Pomegranate Chicken and Burghul Salad

A warm delicious chicken salad that takes no time to prepare at all, adorned with fresh and pretty pomegranate  seeds, is just the answer on a hot summer's day. This is the perfect addition to your salad repertoire for an easy Summer meal. Serve it with a crisp, cool green salad and everyone will think it took more time than it actually did to prepare. The chicken meat needs to be rested for 10 minutes before combining with the salad ingredients. Chopped pistachios or roasted pine nuts are the perfect Middle Eastern garnish to set the scene. I used pine nuts because the pistachios had mysteriously disappeared from my pantry, however next time pistachios will be on the plate.

Unfortunately pomegranates are seasonal, and we are seeing less and less of them in the supermarkets now in the Tropics. The seeds can sometimes be found packaged in plastic boxes  in the fruit section, just like the blueberries and raspberries.

We have a  1 year old Pomegranate tree growing in our garden, and we have high hopes for that tree, no pressure though.

Let's cook:

Ingredients:

8 skinless chicken thighs

Marinade:

2 garlic cloves
1/2 green chilli
3 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
1 tablespoon olive oil

Salad:

1 1/4 cups couscous or burghul
1/3 cup chopped fresh mint
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup (75g) currants
Splash of pomegranate molasses
1/3 cup (50g) pistachios, chopped, or browned pine nuts
Fresh Seeds from 1/2 pomegranate

Method:

Combine marinade ingredients in a bowl. Add the chicken, cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Cook the burghul or couscous according to the packet. Fluff it up with a fork then stir through the mint and parsley, currants and molasses. Let your head go with the mint and the parsley for extra flavour.

Cook the chicken thighs: 

Heat a frying pan over high heat, add the thighs and cook on one side for 3 minutes or until golden. Turn over and quickly brown the other side. Then roast them in a preheated oven 180 deg. oven for about 20 minutes or until cooked right through.

Allow the chicken to rest, then shred the meat into bite-size pieces.



Transfer the burghul salad to a serving platter and top with the chicken, pistachios and pomegranate seeds.

This recipe was adapted from one I found by David Herbert when he was having a quack in the Weekend Australian newspaper magazine, ha, ha. It looked good to me. Thanks David, delicious as always.

Serves 4.

How do I love food? Let me count the ways....

Thanks for dropping by,

Best wishes

Pauline