Quick and Cheap Dinner: Hippie Salad with Chicken
August 3, 2009 | (5)
No, there aren’t two kinds of meat in this salad! Hippie meat tends to be a bit gamey for my taste, yuk yuk yuk.
I call this Hippie Salad because it contains two grains that hippies love: bulgur and quinoa. How am I privy to the culinary preferences of hippies? I used to be one, a friggin’ vegetarian even, and that’s when I learned how to cook both grains.
See? It's not so scary, is it?
If you aren’t a hippie it would do you good to give bulgur and quinoa a shot. Bulgur is more nutrient-dense than rice and contains wicked amounts of fiber. Quinoa is high in protein, which is why my former veggie self ate it. In fact, it’s one of the only grains that qualifies as a complete protein because it contains all the essential amino acids. That won’t stop me from adding chicken to this dish, though. If anything the chicken takes us down from “This stuff is totally foreign to me” to “Hey, I can recognize some of those ingredients!” Vegetarians can skip the chicken, cuz like I said the grains will provide plenty of protein.
You can buy both bulgur and quinoa in the bulk aisle of Whole Foods or in the health food section of most larger grocery stores.
Hippie Salad with Chicken
(adapted from this recipe)
Serves 2-3 as a main dish
Total time: 30 minutes
Cost per serving $4-5
I'm trying to be more artsy with my food photos
1 lb. chicken (breasts or tenders will work)
1/3 cup quinoa
4 cups water
1/3 cup medium bulgur
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons minced cilantro (I had some left over, you could also use mint)
ground black pepper
5-10 brine-cured olives, such as Kalamata, pitted and cut into slivers (I use the chopped olive mix from Whole Foods olive bar. Convenience!)
2 radishes, quartered and thinly sliced
1/2 cup crumbled feta
- Heat the oil over med-high heat in a skillet. Add the chicken to the pan and cook 6-8 minutes per side, until the chicken is cooked through.
- While the chicken cooks, combine the quinoa and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer. Cook uncovered about 20 minutes. The quinoa germ, which looks like a curly-Q, will start to separate from the grain when its done. Drain the quinoa in a sieve then dump in a big bowl.
- While quinoa is doing it’s thing on the stove, nuke or heat about 3 cups of water to close to boiling. Place the bulgur in a separate bowl and cover with the heated water. Cover and let the bulgur soak for about 15 minutes, until it’s tender and chewy. Drain this too and mix in with the quinoa.
- Remove the chicken from the pan and let it rest a few minutes while you prepare the dressing.
- For the dressing, combine the olive oil, lemon juice, cilantro or mint and pepper in a small bowl. Chop the cooled chicken into bite sized chunks. Stir that into the grains, then add the dressing, olives, radishes, and feta. Serve immediately.
Ingredients: bulgur, chicken, cilantro, feta, lemon, olive oil, olives, quinoa, radish
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Sara Says:
thank you for sharing this!
bunny Says:
drmiggy Says:
