harissa is a beautifully balanced spicy paste with garlic, chilli, roasted red capsicum and spices. its absolutely delicious.
in this dish harissa is used as a marinade for the chicken. the spiciness of the chicken balances beautifully with the sweetness from the mango, and the warmth, savoury notes of the roasted carrot.
this salad feels gourmet, its bound to please but its really really easy to make – especially if you buy yourself a really good harissa paste…. look at the ingredients and make sure they are as pure as possible. you should know every ingredient that goes into it! i use sabato.
serves 2
for the chicken
4 chicken thighs
3/4 cup harissa paste (make your own or store bought, i use sabato – it has no weird ingredients and its not super hot)
2 tsp chilli flakes (optional – depends how hot your harissa is)
2 tsp salt
oil for frying (rice bran, rapeseed)
for the salad
10 baby carrots, stems removed
2 tblsp butter, melted
1 tblsp oil (rice bran, rapeseed)
3 cups baby spinach
1 1/2 cups of diced fresh mango
100gm cows milk feta, cubed (i use puhoi)
3/4 cup roasted almonds, roughly chopped
2 tblsp good quality olive oil, or avocado oil
salt
preheat oven to 180deg.
for the chicken
if adding chilli flakes, stir the chilli flakes into 3/4 cup harissa paste.
using a pastry brush, generously brush the harissa paste onto both sides of the chicken thighs. season chicken with salt on both sides.
cover the chicken and then move into the fridge until ready to fry,
for the salad
toss the carrot with the rapeseed or rice bran oil, the melted butter and salt. transfer to a baking tray and roast for approx 30 minutes. turn the carrots half way through to ensure its nicely browned evenly on both sides.
when the carrots are nearly finished, heat frypan to high. oil and then sear the chicken til nicely browned and cooked through.
assembly
toss the spinach leaves through the olive or avocado oil, and a sprinkle of salt.
transfer spinach to your dinner plates, top with the carrots, mango, avocado, feta and chicken.
ReplicATE It. 