When salads are your whole meal, you want to pack a lot of punch in it. At least I do. Most days for lunch I will have some left over protein from dinner the previous night – usually some fish or chicken and then I just eat that along with some lettuce and celery. I don’t even bother chopping the lettuce or celery since – hey what does it matter, my teeth can do that 🙂
But somedays I get motivated. To create something fancier. Fancy meaning not as in ‘gourmet’ or ‘classy restaurant’. Fancy as in ‘whatever makes me happy’ 🙂 I had been making broth with chicken legs the previous day and had added some kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass to the pot along with my usual spices of whole black pepper and bay leaves. The broth came out very tasty and the chicken legs gave out a lot of meat which I saved up for my salad. Now as I opened the container of the chicken pieces, the smell of kaffir lime and lemongrass was still lingering and reeled my senses. hmm…I got transported to ‘Thai’ world or Thai..land rather!
So I decided to just continue with that theme and make a flavorful and colorful salad out of it.! I guess I was thinking of the ‘Thai Larb gai’ (which I totally love!) although what I ended up with was not similar to that although you could say that some things were common like the lemongrass and lime flavor.
For my dressing, I just decided to mix Lemon juice, ginger and honey which further accentuated the already ‘flavorful’ chicken. And Avocados and pomegranate went in to do their ‘colorful’ bit! And voila, within 15 mins I had this beautiful looking and fantastic smelling chicken salad looking at me. Last minute I decided to quickly make some instant pickled onions and throw them as a garnish! The salad was just perfect! It seemed like a large plate but oh the flavors were so good I just couldn’t stop eating and cleaned up the entire plate!
- 2 cups shredded chicken pieces( see below for cooking method)
- ½ of a ripe avocado
- ¼ cup pomegranate arils
- ½ cup shredded lettuce
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp honey
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp fresh ginger grated or ginger juice
- handful of pickled red onions (see recipe below)
- chicken thigh pieces or chicken leg pieces 4-6
- 6 cups water
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon grass, chopped
- 2-3 fresh kaffir lime leaves
- 1 inch by 1 inch fresh ginger, cut into thin rounds
- 2 large garlic cloves, sliced
- 4-6 whole black peppercorns (omit for AIP)
- ½ of a red onion thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp coconut oil, melted
- pinch salt
- First cook the chicken by adding all the ingredients listed under 'For cooking chicken' in a large pot and slow cook covered for about 20-30 minutes.
- Remove from heat and after cooling, take the chicken pieces out and shred them. Reserve the chicken broth after straining to get rid of the spices.
- Mix all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and keep aside.
- Mix all the ingredients listed under 'pickling onions' in a small bowl and using your fingers crush the onion pieces a bit. Keep aside.
- For assembling the salad, arrange the chicken pieces with the lettuce, avocado and pomegranate seeds. Drizzle the dressing on top and scatter the pickled onion slices on top!
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What a great salad! I love the avocado and pomegranate in it and the idea of adding pickled onions is very appealing. I’ve never pickled my own onions so I am pinning this recipe to try later:)
This is definitely a keeper Indu! I just took out chicken to make a salad and couldn’t decide on my flavor profile. I can’t wait to try your thai flavors!
Julie, for me lemongrass and kefir lime just means ‘thai’! I love the fragrance of those – makes the chicken so wonderfully aromatic! You actually don’t even need to add any additional dressing if the chicken is cooked with the right amount of spices! thanks for stopping by!
Girls, can I join your Salad Club here!? 🙂 Delicious, Indu – after all our years of visiting Bangkok of course LOVE the flavour.
Sure Carina, you are welcome to join the club 🙂 I should check out more thai recipes from your site then!
I like Thai flavors . This salad looks so good, Indu! If I had salads like these everyday, I would eat healthy happily everyday 🙂
he he you are right, Sandhya! Since I eat only salads now, I have to come up with different options 🙂 Good to see you!