Chicken, potato and soured cream salad

This is a salad made with chunks of boiled chicken breast, potato wedges, corn kernels, cooked ham and parsley tossed with a sour cream dressing, served surrounded by tomato and cucumber rings on a bed of lettuce leaves. Trying to spread my wings in the kitchen, I thought can’t we enjoy chicken and potato salad without mayonnaise? I checked the kitchen shelves and there was still one 250 ml. pack of all-purpose cream. I checked the fridge and we still had plenty of kalamansi (native lemon). I peeled the boiled potatoes, added the chopped chicken breast, some salt and pepper then tossed them together. Then, my 12-year-old daughter squeezed the juice from ten pieces of kalamansi which I poured into the all-purpose cream. I let it stand for ten minutes (by which time it had curdled). Meanwhile, 12-year-old girl said corn kernels would go well with the salad. I took some leftover cooked ham from the fridge and chopped them. The rest was just a matter of assembling the salad. Looks good? Ah, you should try it! And the aroma from the kalamansi was marvellous!

Ingredients :

breast of one chicken, boiled and cooled
1 kilo of potatoes, boiled, cooled and peeled
1/4 k. of native lettuce (romaine would be good too)
4 tomatoes
1 cucumber
1-250 ml. pack of all-purpose cream (approximately 1 cup)
juice of 10 pieces of kalamansi (approximately 1/8 cup)
2-3 slices of cold cooked ham
3/4 c. of drained corn kernels (canned)
salt and pepper
1 tsp. of chopped parsley
additional parsley for garnish

Cooking procedure :

Debone the chicken breast and chop the meat into bite-sized chunks.

Cut the potatoes into wedges, roughly 1-1/2″ to 2″.

Place the potatoes and chicken in a glass bowl. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss. Chill while preparing the rest of the ingredients.

Transfer the cream into a small ceramic or glass bowl. Pour in the kalamansi juice. Do not stir. Let stand for at least ten minutes or until the cream curdles.

Dice the ham.

Cut the tomatoes into 1/4″ thick rings. Peel the cucumber and cut into 1/4″ thick rings.

Wash the lettuce and break off the root ends. Drain very well in a colander.

Take the chicken-potato mixture out of the fridge. Add the corn kernels, parsley and chopped ham. Toss well. Pour in the soured cream and toss. Add more salt and pepper, if you prefer.

To serve: Arrange the lettuce leaves around the edges of a serving platter. Line one side with the cucumber rings and the opposite side with the tomato rings. With a spatula, carefully transfer the chicken-potato salad at the center of the plate. Sprinkle with more chopped parsley.

Enjoy!

TIPS : If all-purpose cream is too high-fat for your diet, substitute yogurt. You won’t need to add kalamansi juice since yogurt is naturally sour.

Lemon juice may be substituted for kalamansi juice. You may need to reduce the amount though.