Mango couscous chicken salad with sesame ginger dressing

 The Asian chop salad kits are among my top short-cut food vices, and the bottled Asian dressing is pricey enough even on a Lunds' BOGO, so this dressing definitely caught my eye. The salad itself was born out of what was in the house. It keeps fine enough so it works as a make ahead I can grab on the way out the door.

Mango couscous chicken salad with sesame ginger dressing

Ingredients
⅔ cup couscous
1 cup water
¼ teaspoon Tajin or salt
2 tablespoons finely chopped red onions
⅔ cup chopped cucumbers
1½ cup kale leaves cut into narrow ribbons (discard any ribs and stems)
1 cup radicchio cut into narrow ribbons
1 cup mango cut into ½-inch pieces
1 cooked chicken breast half, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons raw cashews, lightly toasted, plus more for garnish
Sesame ginger dressing to taste (see recipe below, or you could use a bottled Asian dressing)

Method
Bring water to a boil in small sauce pan along with Tajin. Remove from heat, stir in couscous, cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and transfer to a bowl to cool.

To cooled couscous, add red onions and cucumbers. Toss to distribute. Add in kale, radicchio, mango, chicken, cilantro and cashews. Stir in enough of the sesame ginger dressing to moisten, tasting as you go to reach desired consistency. You’ll likely have half the dressing left over for another use, but the couscous does absorb a fair amount.

 

Sesame ginger dressing
Dressing adapted from “Live Life Deliciously” by Tara Teaspoon, aka Tara Bench

Ingredients
¼ cup seasoned rice wine vinegar
¼ cup fresh lime juice
½ tablespoon tamari
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil
2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
⅔ cup canola oil

Method
Combine vinegar, lime juice, tamari, honey, ginger, sesame oil and seeds. Slowly stir in the canola oil, whisking constantly. Cover and refrigerate if not using within an hour. It will separate the minute your back is turned, so you’ll need to stir it before use.

Rating: The salad is a nice blend of softness and crunch, sweetness and tang. I stayed on the conservative side of adding the dressing, so it was more of a complementary flavor note than the star, but it can certainly work as an admirable stand-in for that stuff that comes in the salad kits. Bonus points for no annoying and wasteful plastic packaging. 

I keep a few metal forks in the office for civilized eating (well, as civilized as eating at one's desk can be), and I really like these ceramic bowls with microwave safe lids for toting lunches.