Curried chicken salad with Israeli couscous

I used to love chicken salad. It was not something I grew up with, but I discovered it working in an ice cream parlor/luncheonette at the end of high school. It was my sandwich of choice for a couple of summers, but I outgrew it. It was too much mayonnaise and not enough vegetable.  Traditional chicken salad is....soft and kinda bland. I'm not terribly impressed with subtlety in my food, unless it is also paired with something else that packs a punch. This curried chicken salad that I'm offering up to you is very punchy.

Poor little Buster. He faithfully watched me prep all the ingredients, mix the curry mayonnaise together, and poach/boil the chicken. After all that, he only gets a small piece of undressed chicken. Oh, the cruelty he has to endure!

My chicken salad is an amalgam of six or seven different recipes, scattered all over the internet and cobbled together with what I had in my pantry. I wasn't going to make a special grocery trip for celery or raisins, both of which feature heavily in most recipes. I dislike raisins in most things and celery is inessential. Instead, I made do by toasting some pecans, chopping up an orange bell pepper and some green grapes, and mincing an onion and some parsley.

Beautiful, right? 

Before doing this, however, I put some water on the stove with six cloves of garlic, half an onion, a tablespoon of black peppercorns, and a couple teaspoons of salt in it. After bringing this to a boil, I added about two pounds of boneless, skinless chicken thighs and let them boil/poach over medium/medium-low heat for about an hour. What I got for my (lack of) trouble was delicious, tender chicken.

After chopping the veg and while waiting for the chicken, I mixed the spices into the mayonnaise. Just hot curry powder, a little cayenne, lime juice, black pepper, and some salt. Et voilà! Curry mayonnaise.

In the hour it took to cook the chicken (it really probably would have been ready in half the time, but it was convenient for me to keep it cooking until I had everything else ready) I made the Israeli couscous too. I'd never made this type of couscous before, and I have to say I really like it. It reminds me of orzo, which would also be delicious with this chicken.

I sauteed a couple tablespoons of onions with a little cinnamon and then fished out two cloves of the garlic I was boiling with the chicken. The cloves were really soft and I kinda mashed them in the pan, before adding the couscous and some of the poaching liquid to the pan.

When everything was finally ready, I mixed it all up, and as an afterthought, added some dried cranberries. So, so good.

I used the leaves of a head of Romaine as a crispy vehicle for the couscous and chicken. When I make this next time, I think I'll skip the couscous. It was delicious, but it was even better when paired with just the chicken salad. My brother made a chicken salad sandwich, piling everything between two slices of wheat bread. I like my way better, but he wanted the carbs.

This is a flexible recipe. Use more or less curry powder, skip the cayenne and parsley, add celery, use red grapes and red onions, take out the cranberries, substitute walnuts for pecans and a diced apple for grapes. Make a pasta salad with farfalle (bowtie) pasta and the chicken salad all mixed together. It's all good. Make it vegetarian by using garbanzo beans instead of chicken. I applaud the switch. The beauty of this recipe is that you can use whatever's in your pantry.


Curried chicken salad with Israeli couscous
(serves at least four or five hungry people)

Ingredients

For the chicken
2 pounds of chicken (I used boneless skinless thighs, but breasts might be even better)
1/2 large onion, cut into three or four large pieces
6 cloves of peeled garlic
1 tbsp whole black peppercorns (or 1/2 tsp of ground black pepper)
2 tsp salt

For the salad
1/2 large onion, minced
1 orange bell pepper, chopped into very small pieces
1/4 cup parsley, minced
1 cup of green grapes, halved (or quartered)
1/2 cup dried cranberries

For the curry mayonnaise
1/2 cup mayonnaise (I used Kraft's mayo made with olive oil)
1/2 cup sour cream (use greek or plain yogurt if that's what you have)
1/4 cup whole milk (or heavy cream or half and half)
3 tbsp hot curry powder (dial it down if you don't want it super strong, or use a mild curry powder)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1-2 tsp salt (to taste)
juice of two limes

For the couscous
8 oz Israeli couscous
2-3 tbsp minced onion
1 3/4 cups cooking liquid from the chicken
1 tsp cinnamon
2 garlic cloves from the cooking liquid

To assemble
1 head of Romaine lettuce (or whatever type floats your boat)

Instructions

For the chicken: In a large stock pot, add two quarts of water, garlic, half an onion, peppercorns, and salt. Bring to a boil and then add chicken. Lower heat to medium and cook for an hour. When the chicken is tender and cooked, remove from the liquid and let it cool. Shred the chicken or cut it into cubes.

For the mayonnaise: Mix mayo, sour cream, milk, curry powder, cayenne, black pepper, one tsp of salt, and lime juice together.

For the salad: In a large mixing bowl, add chicken, 1/2 minced onion, chopped bell pepper, dired cranberries, parsley, grapes, and about 2/3 of the curry mayo mixture. Mix together, adding more of the curry mayo or salt, to taste. Chill the salad while finishing up everything else.

For the couscous: In a large saucepan (with a lid!!!) saute the onions with some pepper, salt, and cinnamon over medium-high heat. Add two of the soft garlic cloves from the chicken's cooking liquid and smash them in the pan. Add the couscous, cooking until the couscous browns a bit. Add the 1 3/4 cups liquid from the chicken and cover the pan, changing the heat to low. Let the covered couscous cook until all the liquid has been absorbed and then take it off the heat, fluffing it with a fork. Add a couple tablespoons of minced parsley.

To assemble the lettuce cups: On a large (or small) lettuce leaf, layer on the couscous and chicken salad. Enjoy!