Brazilian Chicken Salad/Sandwich (Salpicão de Frango/Sanduíche)
Brazilian chicken salad is quickly made with shredded chicken, apples, carrots, raisins, mayo, and lime juice and served chilled topped with shoestring potatoes.
1lbskinless boneless chicken breastfully cooked and shredded (1/2 kg)
1large applepeeled, cored, and grated
1small white oniongrated
1large carrotpeeled, grated, and cooked al dente
1/3cupblack or green oliveschopped
1/2cupraisins
1/4cupcorncooked
1/2small red bell pepperdeseeded and small diced
2 - 3tablespoonsfresh lime or lemon juice
Salt to taste
1dashground black pepper
1/2cupmayonnaise or plain yogurt (for a dairy-free version, use mayonnaise)
5.3ouncesshoestring potatoes(150g)
1springfresh parsley to decorateoptional
leavesFresh lettucetoto decorate (optional)
Instructions
In a large bowl, mix the 8 first ingredients, season with salt, pepper, and lime or lemon juice. Then, mix the mayonnaise or plain yogurt gently. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for about 2 hours or until chilled.
Right before serving, mix 1/4 of the shoestring potatoes into the chicken salad. Place the salad into a serving bowl and decorate with the lettuce leaves on the sides and with a sprig of fresh parsley on the top.
Note: This salad is often served as a side dish for Christmas, but we also enjoy it all year round in Brazil. It can also be used to make sandwiches. In this case, use french bread rolls (preferred in Brazil), any other hard-crusted bread, or croissants. It will serve many more than 4 to 6 people, depending on the size of bread as well as the amount of filling per sandwich.