Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free Chicken & Fennel Salad with Tzatziki

gluten-free_dairy-free_chicken_fennel_tzatziki

This is a spicy chicken and fennel salad with a fennel-flavoured tzatziki. I’ve made the tzatziki with soya yogurt – and I used Alpro plain. But I think that Alpro might have changed the recipe for their plain soya yogurt recently, as it tastes slightly sweet (and maybe with vanilla-flavouring?) to me now. So I’ve added more lemon juice than you would normally find in a tzatziki recipe to get the right sort of balance of flavours, and the ground fennel seeds to add some umph. (PS, Alpro, please go back to the original recipe!)

* gluten-free, wheat-free, dairy-free, yeast-free, seed-free

5 from 1 reviews

Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free Chicken & Fennel Salad with Tzatziki

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cooking time

20 mins

Total time

35 mins

 

Author: Grace Cheetham

Recipe type: Lunches

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp fennel seeds
• 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into strips
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 2 fennel bulbs, sliced lengthways
• 150g/5½oz salad leaves
• 50g/1¾oz rocket
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Marinade:
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• ½ tsp cayenne pepper
• ½ tsp sea salt, crushed
• juice of 2 lemons
• freshly ground black pepper
• Tzatziki:
• 1 cucumber, peeled
• 300ml/10½fl oz/scant 1½ cups soya yogurt
• juice of 2 lemons
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• sea salt, crushed
• Dressing:
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• juice and zest of ½ lemon

Method

1. Heat a heavy-based frying pan over a low heat. Add the fennel seeds and dry-fry for 2-3 minutes, until they start to brown and become fragrant, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and blend in a mini-electric blender or spice grinder until finely ground and leave to one side.
2. Put the chicken in a non-metallic bowl. Put 1½ teaspoons of the ground fennel seeds in a small bowl and add the paprika, cayenne, salt and lemon juice. Season with the pepper and mix well. Pour over the chicken and cover with a lid or cling film. Leave to marinate in the fridge for 2 hours.
3. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat until hot. Working in batches, put the fennel slices onto the pan base and fry for 3–4 minutes on each side until golden brown. Remove from the pan, add another tablespoon of oil and repeat with the remaining fennel. Remove from the pan and leave to cool.
4. Add a further tablespoon of oil and, working in batches, put the chicken slices onto the pan base (and discard the marinade). Fry for 3–4 minutes on both sides until cooked through and browned. Remove from the pan and repeat with the remaining chicken, adding more oil if needed. Remove from the pan and leave to cool.
5. To make the tzatziki put the cucumber in half, lengthways and remove the seeds. Grate finely, put in a colander and sprinkle with a little salt. Leave for about 15 minutes until it has released some juices. Pat dry in kitchen towel and put in a mixing bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and ½ teaspoon of the ground fennel seeds. Stir well and leave in the fridge to chill until needed.
6. Mix together the ingredients for the dressing plus the remaining ½ teaspoon ground fennel seeds in a jug. Put the salad leaves and rocket in a bowl and add the fennel and chicken. Pour over the dressing and serve with the tzatziki.

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