I think that every time you have a salad it has to be bright and look fresh so you know it’s doing you some good and packed with healthy nutrients. This colourful Indian spiced chicken and grapefruit salad is all about the summer and is spicy, tangy and fun. It’s great to use new or different ingredients with existing dishes and here I like to make a tandoori style masala marinade using pink grapefruit. The colour of the marinaded chicken looks the same as the flesh of the pink grapefruit so not only does it look beautiful against the peppery green salad leaves but it adds a zing and a totally new texture to the salad. For the dressing, the toasted cumin is really important. Just toast off a few seeds in a pan and then crush them to intensify the warming earthy aroma that is so important in this light, sunny salad.
Ingredients
- 4 chicken thighs, trimmed
- 5cm piece ginger
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 pink grapefruit, juice
- 1 tbsp oil,
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- 1 tsp garam masala
- salt to taste
Dressing
- 1 tbsp olive oil,
- 1 tsp roasted cumin seeds,
- 1 tsp honey
- ½ pink grapefruit
Salad
- large pinch coriander leaves, chopped
- large pinch of mint leaves, chopped
- Handful of baby spinach
- Handful of rocket
- Handful of watercress
- ½ pink grapefruit
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 180ºC.
- Cut the chicken into chunks and set to one side.
- Crush the ginger and garlic in a pestle and mortar and place in a bowl.
- Squeeze in the juice from the grapefruit and pour in the oil, chilli powder, garam masala and salt.
- Mix the chicken to marinade for a few minutes then place onto a baking sheet and cook in the oven for 15-20 minutes until cooked through.
- Meanwhile, mix the dressing ingredients with juice from half the grapefruit in a jam jar and shake to mix.
- With the other half of the grapefruit slice out the segments.
- Once the chicken is cooked leave to cool.
- Put the salad leaves into a bowl and dress with the dressing then place the pieces of chicken onto the salad with the segments of grapefruit.
- Sprinkle over the mint and coriander and serve.
