Chicken and Falafel Salad - Or: My First Salad

I'm going to take the blog in a slightly different direction for this one, because.. THIS IS MY 200th POST!

And for that, I’m going to let you all into a secret.

I’ve never made a salad before.

Because I had always held the belief that..

And to be honest, this is definitely true..

I was never particularly bothered about it, apart from having a sneaking suspicion that I am missing out on something which could be quite delicious. I had never really considered salad a dinner. It was what you'd eat when you were punishing yourself for whatever reason. It was about tolerable on the side of something actually delicious, or on top of a burger. 

I resolved to make a foray into salads after eating a particularly delicious one while on holiday in Lisbon. It had crisp lettuce, delicately spiced chicken, a host of veggies and a balsamic dressing. I was smitten.

I decided that I’d give salads a go myself, seeing as we are coming into salad and beer-garden season (HAH! It's been snowing recently..). But to keep it safe, I wanted to stick to flavours and textures which were familiar to me, so I thought I’d try an Eastern-inspired chicken salad with some sesame baked falafel on the side. It's simple, but tasty. And I'm using it as a springboard for more elaborate salads in the future!

And while simple, it's goooood. The parts themselves are delicious together or separately. Those falafel would be really delicious in a hummus pitta. The chicken would be equally delicious over couscous with roasted vegetables. Go wild!

Serves 2 with lunch leftovers

Ingredients for the Chicken

• 3 chicken breasts
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 thumb of ginger, grated
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• ½ tsp paprika
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
• Salt and pepper
• 1 heaped tbsp. sour cream or plain yogurt

Ingredients for the Falafel

• 1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed well
• 1 tbsp cumin powder
• 1 tbsp ground coriander
• ½ tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 tbsp tahini paste
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• Salt and pepper
• Squeeze of lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 heaped tbsp. sesame seeds
• Drizzle olive oil

Ingredients for the rest

• A handful of lettuce/salad leaves per person
• ½ red onion, sliced thinly
• 2 scallions, sliced thinly

Method

Begin with the chicken seasoning. In a bowl, add the garlic, ginger, spices and seasoning and mix well. Pour over the yogurt and stir until it is all combined. Pour it over the chicken and get it all covered in marinade.

Set aside while you make the falafel. If you’re well-prepared you can prep a few hours before and place in the fridge to marinate.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

For the falafel, place the chickpeas, spices, flour, paste, oil, lemon juice, garlic and seasoning in a food processor and blitz until gorgeously smooth and crumbly. You want it to be fairly  dry but able to be formed into balls.

Roll into ping-pong ball sized balls, roll around in the sesame seed and place on a baking tray. You should get about 9 balls in total.

Drizzle some olive oil over the top and bung in the oven for half an hour. Remove when crisp and darker brown than they were going in.

Now, heat a drizzle of oil in a pan and fry off the chicken. I had to butterfly mine half way in because the centre was taking ages to cook. That’s fine!

While the chicken is frying and the falafel are baking, wash and shred the lettuce/salad leaves. Scatter on a plate and top with the sliced onion/scallions. Throw a few sesame seeds around too.

When the chicken is cooked through, slice thinly and place on top of the leaves. 

Add the falafel on the side.

Serve! I am a bit new to the whole salad world, so I just had mine with a little drizzle of sweet chilli sauce, but I’m trying to come up with a decent dressing that would pack a punch with this.

And it makes a really delicous lunch the next few days!