Mother's Chicken Salad

It may be rainy & a little cool outside but it's still summer and salads are summer food!

(Maybe it doesn't look appetising in the picture but it is really tasty!)

This recipe for "Mother's Chicken Salad" came from the South African Budget Beaters Recipe Book (which I don't have anymore) and is still as delicious as when I first made it for the family a couple of decades ago!

I no longer have the original quantities as the recipe I copied down simply had what I'd always used - approximate quantities, but here it is:

Diced COOKED chicken breasts - or left over chicken, or 3 chicken drumsticks cooked in chicken stock makes a decent size portion for two. 
1 Apple - peeled, diced
1 Stick of celery - sliced
1/2 small cucumber sliced and then quartered (to match 'diced'!)
2 'average' size potatoes, COOKED and diced or diced first and then boiled.
190ml pecan nuts - optional, this time I didn't have pecan nuts
4T chopped chives - optional, ditto
1 cup mayonnaise - or about 3T
1/2 cup evaporated milk
Salt & Pepper
2 hard boiled eggs to garnish - optional - I forgot the eggs this time!

Combine chicken, apple, celery, cucumber, cooked potatoes, nuts and chives and mix gently.
Mix the evap milk and mayo until smooth and pour this over the chicken.
Mix gently again, season, garnish, serve! I crumbled some Feta cheese over as well.
Easy!
Serve with something with colour as the chicken, apple and potato are all white and the green of the cucumber and celery isn't strong enough to show! It needs lettuce, rocket, tomatoes for colour.

It is really nice, just filling enough, but light enough to feel good!

Don't forget:  Give yourself TIME to COOK the chicken & potatoes beforehand - and hard boil the eggs!

Chicken with Sweet Onions vs Chicken in Apple Juice

Chicken with Sweet Onions: 
Ingredients :
1T Olive oil;     25g/1oz butter;     3 onions thinly sliced;     2 garlic cloves, finely chopped;     2T plain flour;     8 skinless chicken thighs;     300ml unsweetened apple juice;     1T tomato puree;     mashed potatoes or rice to serve.

Method:
1.  Heat oil and butter in large frying pan. Add the onions and stir well. Reduce the heat and cook gently for about 15 minutes until they are softened adn dark golden. Add the garlic for the last 5 minutes of cooking time.
2.  Transfer the onions and garlic to a plate. Season the flour. Dust the chicken with the flour, shaking off any excess. Cook in the pan for 10 minutes, turning halfway through.
3.  Pour in the apple juice and add the tomato puree. Stir well, scraping the bottom of the pan. Return the onions to the pan, cover with a lid and cook for 20-25 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has thickened. Serve with mashed potatoes or rice.

Vs 

And now to 'personalise' and create something entirely new for the very logical reasons given below!:

Chicken in Apple Juice
Ingredients :
1T Sunflower oil (didn't read recipe properly!);     25g butter (more or less a good 'knob');     Onions (Seriously 3 onions??!! If they're pickling onions yes, but .....!! I use about 1/4 an onion at most in any one dish!);     No garlic cloves available!;      Seasoned flour for dusting (I have a bag of seasoned flour ready and it's probably got a cup-of-soup mixture added with it!);     "515g boneless Chicken thigh fillets" (that's what the packet says, with 6 pieces - and they are skinless, pity 'cos I like chicken skin!);     300ml Apple Juice (not unsweetened! in fact the nutrition label says "11.4g sugars per 100ml!);    Squeeze of Tomato Puree (near enough 1T);     Mashed potato or rice to serve (well at least I can get that one right, it's good with either!)

Method:
1. Heat the oil in a saucepan (frying pan is far too shallow), and add onions until they start going brown (15minutes is a long time to cook onions!)
2.  Coat the chicken with the seasoned flour - just put the pieces into a plastic bag with the  flour, seal and shake a little - then brown in the pan with the onions.
3.  Pour in the apple juice and tomato puree, cover and leave to cook for 20-25 minutes. (During this time you prepare the mashed potatoes or rice.)  The 'sauce' boils away rather than thickens, so keep checking to make sure nothing is sticking to the pan.

It really is a delicious dish!

('Original' recipe taken from Good Food Magazine, BBC Books, 101 Cheap Eats, Tried-and-Tested Recipes)