Mexican griddled chicken, sweet potato and avocado salad with chipotle mayo
Another South American-inspired dish. You can buy chipotle paste in jars nowadays, very useful for both dressings and marinades. If you don’t like quinoa you can use brown rice instead, or a mixture of brown and wild rices. And if you don’t want to make the mayo yourself, use a good commercial variety, adding lime juice, chipotle paste and soured cream.
Ingredients
FOR THE CHICKEN
- 4 skinless boneless chicken thighs
- 4 garlic cloves grated
- juice of 1 lime
- 4 tbsp olive oil plus more for the sweet potatoes
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- 450 g 1lb sweet potatoes, peeled
- salt and pepper
- 150 g 5½oz quinoa (a mixture of red and white is good)
- 1 tbsp white balsamic
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- ½ tsp cumin seeds
- ¼ tsp dried chilli flakes
- 1 ripe avocado
- 100 g 3½oz baby spinach
- small bunch of coriander about 15g/½oz
FOR THE MAYONNAISE
- 1 egg yolk
- ½ tsp Dijon mustard
- 150 ml 5fl oz mixed olive and groundnut or sunflower oil
- 5 tsp chipotle paste
- ½ tsp soft light brown sugar
- juice of ½ lime
- 1 tbsp soured cream
Instructions
- Put the thighs into a dish and add the garlic, lime juice, regular oil and ground cumin.
- Turn the chicken to coat.
- Cover with cling film and marinate in the fridge for two to four hours.
- Bring it to room temperature before cooking.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6.
- Cut the sweet potatoes into slices about 1.
- 5cm (⅔in) thick.
- Brush on both sides with regular oil and season.
- Put on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, until just soft and golden, turning halfway.
- To make the mayonnaise, mix the egg yolk and mustard in a bowl.
- Beating constantly with an electric beater, pour in the oils, a very little at a time.
- Stir in the chipotle paste, sugar, lime juice, seasoning and soured cream, adding 1 tbsp of water.
- Toast the quinoa.
- Tip into a broad, shallow serving bowl, season and add the white balsamic and virgin oil.
- Heat a griddle pan and cook the sweet potatoes for two minutes on each side, to get a smoky flavour and nice griddle marks.
- Press the slices to encourage the marks to form.
- Sprinkle with cumin seeds and chilli flakes as you are cooking.
- Add the sweet potato to the quinoa.
- Lift the chicken out of its marinade – shaking off the excess – and cook it on the griddle pan set over a medium-high heat for about two minutes on each side.
- Reduce the heat a little and cook for five minutes, turning from time to time.
- It should be cooked through.
- Halve the avocado, pit and cut into slices, then carefully remove the skin from each slice.
- Add the avocado to the quinoa with the spinach and coriander.
- Toss carefully and check the whole thing for seasoning.
- Slice the chicken into broad strips and put it on top.
- Drizzle with the mayonnaise – don’t use too much, you can offer the rest on the side – and serve.