Grandma's Chicken Salad

Last week we had a fun cookout at a Food Pantry where I volunteer. Every volunteer and employee brought something to share. I made this old recipe that I copied from my mother’s recipes sometime in the 1980s and it was an absolute hit. It is a bit different from the regular chicken salad as it adds some crunch with the apples, leeks and cucumbers. It also has some curry flavor in the dressing.

My picture is terrible as I just quickly snapped it at the beginning of the cookout and was not inteding to make a blog post about it. However, I’ve gotten so many requests for the recipe that this is the easiest way to share it with everyone. I also included a picture of the original hand written recipe so everyone realizes, this is one of those dishes where you keep tasting it as you progress and adjust the ratios in a true grandma style. ‘A little bit of this and a little bit of that’.

While the original recipe is pictured I am going to write down the recipe that I used for this specific cookout dish as I made some modifications, partly due to the different times we live in now. First of all the recipe calls for a meat of whole roasted chicken, I used three chicken breasts which I grilled (flavored with garlic, lemon, salt and black pepper). If in a time crunch, store bought grilled/roasted chicken works as well. Then the recipe calls for 1/2 of an English cucumber, I used three mini cucumbers. As for the apples, the recipe calls for two, but I used one big granny smith apple instead, so adjust according to the size of your apples.

One important note, you do not want to drench the salad with the mayo dressing, there should be enough for flavor but that should not be overbearing. And if you want for a more garlic forward taste, I would add two cloves of fresh garlic (grated) instead of the garlic powder.

Hope you enjoy it as much as i do!

INGREDIENTS;

3 grilled chicken breasts

3 mini cucumbers (or one normal sized)

1 red bell pepper

1 granny smith apple

1/2 leek

1/2 cup frozen peas

3/4 cup white rice

1/2 cup good quality mayonaise

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 tsp curry

1 tsp garlic powder

salt

freshly ground black pepper

STEPS:

  1. Prepare the rice according to the package instructions and let it cool down.

  2. Grille the chicken breasts, let them cool and cut into bite size pieces.

  3. Cut the cucumbers, bell pepper, apple, and leek into bite size bits. Make sure to halve the leek first and fan the layers to run water through to remove any possible grit from the ground before slicing.

  4. Assemble the salad in a big bowl rice, chicken, cucumber, red bell pepper, apple, leek and frozen peas.

  5. In a separate small bowl combine mayo, apple cider vinegar, curry, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Mix well and check the taste. I ended adding a bit more of curry and garlic powder.

  6. Pour 3/4 of the dressing on the salad ingredients and mix until combined. Check the taste and add the remaining portion of the dressing if needed and mix again.

  7. Let the salad sit in a fridge for at least 30 minutes before serving so that the flavors can meld together.

MeatNiina OjaChicken, Salad, Chicken saladComment