Polish chicken and pineapple salad with curry: a party classic in a mayonnaise dressing
A salad associated with Polish parties of the nineties, when tinned pineapple became easy to buy, and still found at birthdays today: poached chicken in dice, pineapple, sweetcorn, celery and rice in a mayonnaise and yogurt dressing with a teaspoon of curry. Sweet with spicy, crunchy with soft. Six portions, ready in under two hours, better after a night in the fridge.
Your own work in that: 15 min.
- Chicken and rice cooking 25 min
- Chopping and dressing 15 min
- Resting 60 min
Step by step
0 / 6 donePoach the chicken
Put the breast in a pot of salted water, bring to the boil, lower the heat to a barely visible simmer and cook 15 minutes. Take off the heat and leave in the water another 10 minutes. Cut into the thickest part: the meat should be white with no pink juices. Lift out and cool completely.
Ingredients: 500 g chicken breast · 100 g rice · 1 pcs tinned pineapple · 340 g tinned sweetcorn · 3 pcs celery · 50 g walnuts · ½ bunch chives
TipA hard boil gives a dry, stringy breast. Water that barely bubbles and resting in the liquid gives juicy chicken that doesn't fall apart when diced. Breast from a chicken soup works too.
Barely bubbling, a quarter hour, rest in the waterCook the rice fluffy
Rinse the rice, cook in salted water according to the packet (about 15 minutes), drain and spread on a plate to cool so it doesn't clump. The no-rice version: hard cheese in small dice.
Drained, spread out, cooledCut everything
Cut the cold chicken into 1 cm dice. Drain the pineapple thoroughly in a sieve (keep the juice) and cut into dice of the same size. Drain the sweetcorn. Slice the celery thinly; if using leek, cut into thin half-rings and scald with boiling water. Chop the walnuts coarsely.
TipUndrained pineapple is the main cause of a watery salad. Drain it in a sieve for 10 minutes before cutting; drink the juice, or add a spoon to the dressing if you like it sweeter.
Even dice, pineapple well drainedMake the curry dressing
Stir the mayonnaise with the yogurt, curry, lemon juice, salt and pepper into a smooth pale yellow dressing. Taste: the curry should be noticeable but not dominant; a teaspoon is the safe amount, a second for those who like it hotter.
Ingredients: 4 tbsp mayonnaise · 4 tbsp natural yogurt · 1 tsp curry powder · ½ pcs lemon, juice · ½ tsp salt · ½ tsp black pepper
Mayonnaise, yogurt, curry, lemonMix
Combine the chicken, rice, pineapple, sweetcorn, celery and half the walnuts with the dressing, folding gently with a spoon. Add salt if needed.
Everything with the dressing, gentlyChill and serve
Cover and refrigerate an hour, ideally overnight: the rice and chicken absorb the dressing and the curry opens up. Before serving sprinkle with the rest of the walnuts and the chives. Keeps 2 days in the fridge.
After an hour, with walnuts and chives
Before you start
With roasted chicken
Instead of poaching: rub the breast with a teaspoon of curry and olive oil, roast 20–25 minutes at 200 °C until no pink remains inside, and dice once cool. The salad gains depth.
With grapes
A handful of halved seedless grapes instead of some of the pineapple: less sweet, more elegant.
Lighter
A dressing of Greek yogurt alone with curry and lemon, rice instead of cheese, walnuts left out. Noticeably fewer calories, and still full of flavour.
