Curried Chicken Salad with Spiced Chickpeas and Raita

I went to La Mediterranee in Pac Heights with Trevor, Nick, and Liz for dinner last night.  Nick is one of Trevor's best friends and Liz is his girlfriend!

Instead of bread, the restaurant brought out roasted spiced chickpeas for a snack.  All four of us were raving about the unique, crunchy, and savory treat!  

Today I of poked around on the internet searching for roasted chickpea recipes.  Along the way I stumbled upon this recipe that incorporates spiced chickpeas and I didn't even think twice about making it.  I ran to the store and found these adorable jars to showcase the layered salad. 

Despite all the steps and ingredients this salad was easy and delicious!  The recipe calls for a pre-made rotisserie chicken which is such a good idea!  Rotisserie chickens taste great and are inexpensive.  

I can't wait for Spring, so I can bring these cute jars full of chicken salad, veggies, and yogurt to a picnic.

This salad is surprisingly healthy.  Instead of mayonnaise, this recipe is stocked full of healthy plain yogurt.  The grapes add just the right amount of sweetness to offset the spice of the chickpeas.  

Saute onions, garlic, and ginger until soft.

Add spices and let mixture saute for a couple of minutes.  The mixture will look quite dry.

Add the chopped tomatoes and saute until thickened.

Shred rotisserie chicken.  I used all white meat!

Mix yogurt, shredded chicken, mint, and sauteed veggies

Saute chickpeas in oil and spices until they are toasty with a slight crunch.

Mix yogurt with mint, cucumber, and salt to make the raita.

Ready to assemble! 

Curried Chicken Salad with Spiced Chickpeas and Raita

adapted from Gourmet, August 2008, by Paul Grimes and Shelley Wiseman

Ingredients:

Chicken Salad

1/2 Large Red Onion chopped

1 Tbsp Garlic chopped

1 Tbsp Ginger chopped

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 Tbsp Curry Powder

1 tsp Cumin Powder

2 Medium Tomatoes chopped

1 cup Plain Low-fat Yogurt

2 Tbsp Mint chopped

1 Rotisserie Chicken - coarsely shred white meat (you can use the dark meat too if you like!) equals about 3 - 4 cups

Salt 

Pepper

Spiced Chickpeas

1 - 16 oz Can Chickpeas - rinsed, drained, and patted dry

1 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 tsp Cumin

1/2 tsp Turmeric

1/4 tsp Red Pepper Flakes

Raita

1 cup Plain Low-fat Yogurt

2 cups English Cucumber chopped

4 Tbsp Mint chopped

Assembly Ingredients

1 cup Red Grapes sliced in half

4 Tbsp Almonds - lightly toasted

Directions:

Chicken Salad

Saute onions, garlic, ginger, olive oil, salt, and pepper until onions are soft (abut 5 minutes) in a medium saute pan over medium heat.  Add cumin and curry powder and saute for 2 more minutes.  Add tomatoes and saute until mixture thickens.  Remove from heat.  Toss vegetable mixture with shredded chicken and yogurt and taste for seasonings.

Spiced Chickpeas

Heat olive oil over high heat in a medium saute pan.  Add chickpeas and saute for 1 minutes (they will begin to sizzle and pop!).  Add spices and saute for another 2 minutes until pan is dry.

Raita

Mix yogurt with cucumbers, mint, and salt.

Assembly

Use large clear jars (like mason) with a wide lid.  Place ingredients in jars in the following order:  Grapes, Chicken, Raita, Chickpeas, and finally almonds. 

Serve!