(10 minutes, serves 4)
You know how you’re tired and the kids need dinner, so you pick up a rotisserie chicken on the way home from work? And your family eats some of it that night, and maybe a bit more the next day, but they’re bored with it after that. But you can’t stand wasting food, so you spend a little time taking the remaining chicken off the bone?
In my experience, that results in about two cups of cooked chicken, a mix of light and dark meat, heading towards too-dry, so needing some moisture added to be tasty. Sometimes I make a spicy curry with the leftover chicken, but often, chicken salad is the way to go. Mayonnaise leaps to the rescue!
While you can certainly add a little yellow curry powder to chicken salad, I actually like it just fine without, and usually don’t bother. It’s the cashews, sultanas, green chili, and lime juice that make it ‘feel’ Sri Lankan to me.
Bonus — if you wait to add the cashews and cilantro, you can actually do everything else and it’ll freeze well. Then just let thaw in the fridge overnight, or at room temperature for a few hours (I wouldn’t try to use the microwave defrost on this, personally, for risk of the mayo starting to cook), add the cashews and cilantro, check your seasonings, and you’re ready to serve it to guests, or have it for a few days of sandwiches.
2 cups cooked chicken, chopped
1/4 c. cashews, chopped
1/4 c. sultanas, chopped
3-5 Thai green chilies, chopped
1/2 c. mayo
1/4 c. cilantro, chopped
1/2 – 1 t. fine salt
1/2 t. black pepper
1-2 T lime juice
1. Combine ingredients, adjust seasonings to your taste, and enjoy! If you let it sit for maybe 20 minutes or so, the flavors will meld a little better.
*****
(I do like a recipe with only one step!)