When the days are hot and you really don’t want to spend too much time in the kitchen preparing the dinner meal, then this is the salad for you.
It can be adapted to be vegetarian (use avocado and / or chick peas instead of chicken), gluten free (use rice noodles or zucchini noodles), and you can use chicken which you cook yourself (see recipe … and this can be done in advance), or if time is really short, then purchase a cooked BBQ chicken from the butcher (try to get free range if possible).
If you already have some cooked meat left over from another meal, then slice that up and use it instead of chicken and your dinner couldn’t be simpler.
Use whatever salad veggies you like, it can be really simple if you don’t have much: just spinach, cucumber, tiny toms, spring onion and herbs is fine with the noodles … but obviously the more you have the more volume you will get.
Use whatever herbs you have, but I find basil and parsley fabulous, and if you like coriander then throw a heap of that in too … if you grow your own herbs then mint is a blessing as well, but you don’t want to have to buy a whole lot just for one dish. So again, it comes down to what you have easily available.
If there is just two of you, then this salad keeps really well for the next night’s dinner … or lunch … so you can tick off two meals with one lot of effort.
I always make more salad dressing than I need as it keeps well in the fridge and can be used on other dishes during the week (the family love it!), and I like to have extra dressing on the table for anyone who wants more.
You can make this salad as big or little as you like simply by cooking more chicken and using more vegetables. So the amount I am giving you will serve 4-6 (depending on appetites), with maybe some leftovers for lunch the next day (again, depending on appetites).