Fresh fruit and bruschetta complement this chicken and rice salad, which is perfect for a light spring luncheon. CHRIS THELEN/STAFF

Simply elegant

Brown rice, mango chutney give chicken salad new life

Web posted April 26, 2000

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 Susan's Chicken Salad with Brown Rice

By Karin Calloway
Special Columnist

Good recipes are like good friends. You turn to them time and time again.

This week's recipe comes from my friend Susan Crocker. Last week Susan served this delicious chicken and rice salad at a ladies luncheon. She not only sent me home with the recipe, but also a plate of the salad to use for my photo shoot that afternoon.

Susan's luncheon pleaser takes chicken salad to new heights. She combines cooked chicken and brown rice with chopped celery, green onion, apples, pecans, grapes and a dressing made of lowfat mayonnaise and mango chutney. It's a combination that "sounds weird but is fabulous," Susan says.

Visit Karin Calloway's Quick Cooking recipe archive

Several shortcuts can be taken when preparing this salad.

First, use instant brown rice, which cooks in 10 minutes. Second, look for cooked and cubed chicken breast meat in the freezer section of your supermarket. It's a bit pricey, but worth it if time is short.

Sam's also carries grilled, sliced chicken breast meat in large bags in the freezer section near the other chicken products. This is a good product, and the large quantity of meat can be used in many other entree salads as well. You'll need about 4 cups of cubed, cooked chicken in place of the eight chicken breast halves called for.

The recipe serves 12 and is best made ahead, so it's perfect for spring entertaining. Susan substitutes Cranraisins (sweetened, dried cranberries) for the fresh grapes when preparing the salad in the fall.

Mango chutney is probably the only ingredient in the salad that you don't usually have on hand. Look for it near the relishes or condiments in your supermarket. Major Grey's is the most common brand, but any mango chutney should be fine. Chutney often includes large pieces of mango, so chop your chutney or pulse it in the food processor before combining it with the mayonnaise.

Serve your salad, as Susan did, with a fresh berry congealed salad and tomato and mozzarella bruschetta. For her bruschetta, Susan toasted Italian bread, topped the slices with mozzarella cheese and sliced tomatoes and then broiled them until the cheese was melted and the tomato heated through. If time is short, replace the congealed salad with fresh melon skewers.

Susan's Chicken Salad with Brown Rice

1 cup lowfat mayonnaise

1/2 cup mango chutney

8 chicken-breast halves, cooked and cubed

2 stalks celery, chopped

4 green onions, chopped

1 Granny Smith apple, unpeeled, chopped

1/2 cup grapes or Cranraisins

1/2 cup toasted, chopped pecans

2 cups cooked brown rice

Blend the mayonnaise and chutney. Place remaining ingredients in a large bowl and fold in the chutney mayonnaise. Chill at least 2 hours.

Makes 12 servings.

Karin Calloway is a Web chef for Viking Range Corp. (www.vikingrange.com) and a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals. You can write her in care of Newsroom, The Augusta Chronicle, P.O. Box 1928, Augusta, GA 30913. Or send e-mail to karingca@aol.com.