Chutney Chicken Salad

Source: Sunset Magazine, May 2004

Ingredients

• ½ cup Raisins Or Dried Currants
• ½ cup Major Grey or Other Fruit Chutney
• ¾ cups Sour Cream, Yogurt or Creme Fraiche
• 2 Shallot, Minced
• 1 teaspoon Curry Powder
• 3 cups Basmati Rice, Warm Or Cold
• 2 cups Cooked, boned, Skinned Chicken, diced in ½ inch pieces
• Salt
• 3 cups Butter Lettuce Leaves (see note below)
• ½ cup Salted Almonds, Coarsely Chopped, Roasted
• 1 cup Bananas, Thinly Sliced Or Diced
• ¼ cup Fresh Cilantro, Chopped
• 2 Limes, Rinsed And Halved
• Hot Sauce, Optional

Method

1. In an 8-to 10-inch frying pan over medium-high heat, stir raisins until puffy, about 4 minutes; take care to avoid scorching. Pour into a small bowl.

2. With scissors, snip through ½ cup chutney to cut apart large pieces of fruit; scrape into a large bowl. Add sour cream, shallot, and curry powder; mix well. Add rice and chicken and mix well, adding salt to taste.

3. Line four wide, shallow bowls with lettuce leaves; mound chicken salad on lettuce and spread it out slightly.

4. Arrange raisins, almonds, bananas, and cilantro decoratively on chicken salad; set a lime half on the side of each salad. Serve with additional chutney, salt, and hot sauce to add to taste.

Notes

I used chopped Romaine as the lettuce and liked it a lot.