Chicken Hummus Salad…homemade

Cuisines have travelled across borders. What we never heard of twenty years back are now household names. Hummus is one such dish.

We Indians have been having ‘chhola’ since childhood and are well aware of the existence of chickpeas or garbanzo beans. Hummus has introduced us to the kabuli chana in a whole new light.

What is hummus? It is a dip or spread made from boiled and mashed chickpeas. But there are other ingredients that go into it as well. We can flavour it with garlic, jalapenos, roasted bell peppers or have it in its simplest form.

Mixed with a platter-full of colourful salad and chicken shreds gives us the lip smacking hummus salad.

Pair it up with dinner rolls or pita bread and we have a whole meal.

Making this healthy, wholesome and attractive dish is pretty easy.

The salad can contain ingredients of your choice. They could be bell peppers of all colours, olives both green and black, cucumber, broccoli blanched, tomatoes and lettuce.

What we need to prepare is the hummus and the chicken.

The hummus recipe given here is garlic flavoured. You can replace it with the flavour of your choice.

HUMMUS

Ingredients:

• Chickpeas (soaked overnight) -1 cup
• Al Fez Tahini Dressing, – 1 tablespoon
• Garlic – 10 cloves roasted
• Whole red chili – 5 dry roasted
• Borges Extra Virgin Olive Oil, – 2 tablespoons
• Juice of one large lemon
• Salt as per taste

Method:

Boil the chickpeas with water and salt. The water should cover the chickpeas completely.

Allow the boiled chickpeas to cool.

While they cool you can cut and mix your salad ingredients. Season the salad with salt, pepper and lemon juice.

When the chickpeas are cool put them in a blender along with the water they were boiled in.

Add the roasted garlic, roasted chili, tahini and salt.

Blend all ingredients to get a fine paste.

Mixer Grinder Collection

Take out the hummus into a bowl and mix the olive oil and lemon juice. Mix well to get an even texture and appearance. The consistency should be neither too thick nor runny.

CHICKEN

You need boneless pieces for the salad.

Mix salt and pepper to the chicken.

Place chicken pieces in a heavy bottom pan. Cover with lid and set to cook.

The chicken will cook in the water it exudes. Turn over the pieces after some time to avoid burning.

Cook the chicken till all the water has dried up and the chicken is cooked till the middle.

To check for doneness you can split open a piece and see the colour. If it is pink it need further cooking. If it is the same colour as the other parts of the piece it is done.

Allow the chicken to cool.

When cool you can shred the pieces using a fork or your hands. Do not make it too fine or they will get lost in the salad.

SALAD ASSEMBLY

In a large bowl add the hummus, salad and chicken and toss well. Check for seasoning. You might need to add a little salt but that depends upon your taste.

Toast some pita breads if you intend to have it as a meal.