Chicken salad and Strawberry Smoothie with Delisile

Chicken salad

 Chicken salad is any salad that counts chicken as a main ingredient. Not only is it easy to make, it is delicious and healthy too as it makes use of a variety of vegetables. It is a no-fuss way of using up leftovers to prepare a composed meal. Chicken salad is good virtually any time of the year, for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Typically it is made with leftover chicken. It may also refer to a garden salad with fried, grilled, or roasted chicken cut up on top.

The one featured today, prepared by Delisile Mavimbela from Thyme @ The Hub, made use of fried chicken strips seasoned with BBQ spice. The coffee shop is run by Pick 'n Pay Supermarket. 

Increasingly, more and more people are cutting down on grains. In that regard, chicken salad can be enjoyed as it is, without a starch. However, for those that don’t get satisfied without a bit of starch in their meal, a more filling alternative would be to serve it in a sandwich (ideally whole-wheat), pita or wrapped in a tortilla. Common ingredients for the salad may include mayonnaise, hard-boiled egg, celery, onion, pepper, grapes and nuts. In place of chicken, tuna and/or salmon can be utilised. If avocados are not in season, mango chunks and cashew nuts can do the trick. Prawns and calamari are also good alternatives for seafood lovers.

INGREDIENTS (to serve 1)

1 breast fillet

Lettuce

Olives

Feta cheese

1 tomato

1 onion

1 cucumber

1 small avocado

METHOD:

• ·         Cut the lettuce evenly with a knife and spread it on a plate.
• ·         Add a layer of sliced tomatoes on top of the lettuce.
• ·         Add the chicken strips, carefully spreading them equally around the plate.
• ·         Place slices of avocado on top of the chicken strips.
• ·         Add olives and feta cheese evenly on the plate.
• ·         Serve with your favourite dressing.

STRAWBERRY SMOOTHIE

As with the chicken salad, there are no hard and fast rules for making a smoothie. Any two seasonal fruits, for instance banana and pineapple, or kiwi and pineapple can be used. However, strawberry and banana remain the firm favourite for most. One point to note is that at the peak of the season, fruits are sweeter that they would be towards the end.  This will determine the sweetness of the smoothie.

Strawberry Smoothie

INGREDIENTS

1 banana

4 or 5 strawberries, depending on size

Lemon sorbet

Plain yoghurt

Blocks of ice

Vanilla ice cream, optional

METHOD

• ·         Peel the banana and chop it into smaller pieces.
• ·         Combine banana and strawberries and blitz in a blender.
• ·         Add ice cream or ice blocks.
• ·         In a blender, combine strawberries, chopped bananas, yoghurt, vanilla ice cream, and ice blocks.
• ·         When the mixture is properly blended, serve immediately.

ABOUT THE CHEF

Delisile Mavimbela

Delisile Mavimbela has been working at Thyme @ The Hub from 2012, having moved from Matsapha. She is very passionate about preparing healthy meals that boost the immune system. Delisile loves preparing the chicken salad for her customers not only because of its healthy properties, but also because the ingredients are affordable and accessible to everyone. “Anyone can make their version of chicken salad, but ours is the best,” she said. The colourful salad she prepared prompted one woman to immediately change her order, opting for the salad. Delisile usually does not like to use artificial spices when she cooks. She prefers vegetables in their natural state. She is available on 7604 3169.

*Published in Times of Swaziland

Having your 5-a-day and drinking it too!

It felt evil to mutilate this beautiful salad

I had the pleasure of meeting two lovely chefs for the Times of Swaziland cooking column which I contribute to. Chef Phindile Sihlongonyane and Nokwazi Gama made me fresh juice and a muesli fruit salad. I absolutely loved the salad.

Ingredients for the fruit salad

Quarter of cup muesli

Quarter apple, cut into small cubes

2 strawberries

1 banana

Quarter cup chopped pawpaw

1 kiwi

375ml plain or double cream yoghurt

Grapes, not used in this particular recipe

2 tablespoons honey

Pour muesli in a bowl and add a layer of yoghurt to cover the muesli.

Add a generous layer of all the fruits to cover the yoghurt, leaving some for garnish.

Cover the fruit layer with more yoghurt.

Place the remainder of the fruit on top of the yoghurt.

Squeeze honey over the salad and enjoy.

Chef Nokwazi Gama prepared the delectable fruit salad. Her expertise preparing the salad reflected the 15 years she has been at Pick ‘n Pay Manzini, some of them spent assisting with food preparation. She learned to cook on the job after being sent to various places for training. Chef Nokwazi said what kept her going was seeing regular customers who kept coming back to the coffee shop, which assured her that she and her team were doing a great job.

Ingredients for the juice

4 Apples

3 carrots

Half thumb size root ginger

Blocks of ice, optional

Method

Slice the apple in half and chop the carrots into four pieces and chop the carrots into four pieces

Throw the ingredients into the machine and wait for the juice to be processed.

When all the juice comes out, remove the froth that forms on the surface and serve.

Chef Phindile Sihlongonyane, who made the fruit and vegetable juice, has been with Thyme @The Hub for the past two years. She said she was proud of the juice she serves to her customers daily because it is pure, with no water or artificial additives. Her favourite juice is the one she prepares with beetroot, orange, and a little ginger.