Poached Chicken Okra salad

Poached Chicken Okra salad

I love okra. Now usually we have them in a curry or fried and then there is this one Bengali dish where the okra is simply boiled with garlic and eaten . And then I wanted a fiery poached chicken with  a filling salad and wanted to use okra so this is what happened next

Serves 1 :-

1.5 cups torn iceberg lettuce
7 to 8 okras as fresh as possible
1 breast of chicken weighing 110 to 120 gm
2 cloves of garlic
A small piece of ginger
Green chilies as per taste - I used 3 of them because I knew I could handle the heat you can even use half a green chili
Salt as per taste
Pepper as per taste
1 tsp vinegar

For the vinaigrette dressing

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp finely chopped chives


Start with the okra. Bring a bowl of water to boil and add a bit of salt and the 1 tsp vinegar. Now lop off the heads and immerse the okra and boil for 3 minutes to 4 minutes. Take them out with a slotted spoon and plunge them in a bowl of ice cold water. This process prevents the okra from becoming slimy.

After 15 minutes tear the lettuce and drain the okra and chill them.

Now if you want a cold salad you might want to poach your chicken and chill it as well else you can add it at the last moment. Smash the ginger garlic and chilies and place them in a bowl, place the chicken breast , fill with enough water to just cover the chicken , add salt and bring to a boil and immediately lower heat cover and simmer for just about 2 minutes to 3 minutes and turn off the heat and let it be for another 2 minutes. Now take out the chicken and leave it to rest for 5 minutes and then slice em up.

To arrange the salad make a bed of the torn lettuce and arrange the okra and add salt and pepper then place the chicken breast on top and make your dressing by adding all the ingredients in a small bowl and whisking them till they emulsify and add it and enjoy a healthy meal. If you can take the heat you might want to add the chilies used for poaching with the salad