Mia Cooks: Yogurt Sriracha Shredded Chicken Salad

You know what, I've been using sriracha sauce to spice up nearly ALL my stir fries for lunch these days (used up 1.5 bottles till date) and have also been snacking on greek yogurt as my mid-day snack for MONTHS. But never ever have I thought of mixing these two together to create a low calorie, diet-friendly salad dressing. 

But, better too late then never, right?

Anyway, the ingredients for the salad is really simple, and you can pair it with any type of vegetables you fancy, really. But here's what I used for mine.

For 2 servings, you'll need: 

For the salad:

1 half skinless, boneless chicken breast (about 150 - 180g, raw)

2 cloves of garlic, crushed (press down with the blade of your knife)

1/4 tsp ground ginger (or a few slices of fresh ginger)

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Capsicum / Bell Peppers (I used red and yellow, half each)

Japanese Cucumber (1 small/medium, about 200g)

1 King Oyster Mushroom, sliced (about 70g)

1/2 white onion, thinly sliced (about 50g)

For the dressing:

2 tbsp plain Greek yogurt

1 tbsp honey lemon 

(I used the juice I have leftover in my jug of honeyed lemon slices, but you can mix honey and lemon juice in the ratio you prefer)

1 - 2 tbsp sriracha sauce

a pinch of salt

a dash of chili powder (optional)

First up, always brine your chicken if they're frozen. Immerse the chicken in a bowl of salt water and leave it to chill in the fridge for 2 to 3 hours. Then, rinse the chicken under a running tap for a few seconds and place it into a pot with just enough water to cover the entire piece of chicken. Into the water, add the crushed garlic, ground ginger, salt and black pepper and then bring the water to a boil. Allow to simmer until the chicken breast is fully cooked. Remove the chicken breast from the water and leave it to cool down before tearing the chicken into shreds with your hands; set them aside.

In a hot pan (make sure they're hot), put in the sliced mushrooms and roast them over high heat until they're browned and starts to smell roasty and fragrant. The trick here is to make sure that your pan is hot enough, if not the mushroom will start to produce moisture and they won't brown nicely. Once the mushrooms are browned, remove them from the pan and add in the sliced onions. Cook the onions over medium heat until they turn slightly translucent. Go ahead to cook them further until they're caramelised or even add them into your salad raw if you're a fan of either. Set the cooked mushrooms and onions aside to cool down. 

Then, cut your choice of vegetables into bite size strips and add them into a large clean bowl. Add in the cooled chicken, mushrooms and onions. Then, in a small bowl, add in 2 tablespoons of greek yogurt along with 1 tbsp of honey lemon water. As the consistency of greek yogurt differs across different brands, just add enough honey lemon water to reach the consistency of natural yogurt. Then add in sriracha until you get the desired amount of spiciness. Season with a tiny pinch of salt and some chili powder before adding the dressing into your bowl of salad. Toss well to combine.

Tadaa~

I'm not a huge fan of salad dressing in general, hence I used the bare minimum amount I need to get some taste in my raw vegetables. If you're the kind who loves to drench your salad in dressing, you may want to double the recipe for the dressing instead. 

Till then,

Mia Foo