After a month away eating fish n chips, Yorkshire puddings and English breakfasts (not to mention indulging in way too much grape juice), I felt the need for low carb, light, summery food.  The sun was shining when we stepped off the plane, welcoming us to a typical 39°C spring day  :/ .  This was just the ticket.  Fresh, spring greens were the perfect platform for lean, barbecued, Tandoori marinated, breast fillets.  No salad dish is complete for me without some sort of scrummy dressing just to give everything a bit of a lift and the yoghurt, lemon and coriander one I made for this was perfection!

Prep time:  30  Minutes         Cooking time:  20  Minutes + marinating time        $  Low Budget

Serves 4

4 medium breast fillets (150-200gm)

2 tbs of tandoori paste

1 cup of greek yoghurt

Juice of 1 lemon

Sea salt & cracked pepper

For the Salad:

2 handfuls of green beans, ends removed and sliced in half*

1 bunch of asparagus, woody bottoms removed and halved lenthways

1 cup of frozen peas

2 cups of watercress, roughly chopped (baby rocket would be a good substitute)

1 lebanese cucumber, sliced

1/2 a small red onion, finely sliced top to bottom

Extra virgin olive oil and 1/2 a lemon for drizzling

For the Dressing:

1/4 cup of olive oil

1/3 cup of greek yoghurt

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

2 tbs of finely chopped coriander

1-2 tbs of water

Sea salt and pepper

In a large bowl, combine the tandoori paste, lemon juice, yoghurt and season with salt and pepper.  Mix well to combine.  Slice the breast fillets on the diagonal lightly on top and place them in the marinade.  Toss with your hands or a spoon until the chicken is coated all over.  Cover and place in the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes but overnight if you like.

Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil and add the peas.  Once boiling again, toss in the beans and asparagus for approximately 1-2 minutes or until bright green in colour and just tender.  Drain and rinse under cold water thoroughly to stop the cooking process.  You can even throw a few ice cubes into the colander to help them stay nice and crunchy.  Grab a large bowl and toss the drained veggies, watercress, cucumber and red onion together and set aside.  Drizzle with olive oil, lemon juice and season with a little salt and pepper just before serving.  If you do it too early the lemon juice may discolour the greens.

In a small bowl combine the olive oil, yoghurt, lemon juice,  coriander, salt & pepper and whisk to combine.  Add the water a little at a time to help thin out the dressing.  You can leave it thick if you like but I wanted it to run through the salad.

Heat your BBQ grill to nice and smokin’ hot.  Place the breast fillets on the grill and cook for approximately 8-10 minutes either side, depending on the thickness of the breast meat.  To check wether they are cooked through you can slice through the thickest part.

Drizzle the olive and lemon juice over the salad and give it a quick toss.  Divide the salad between four serving plates and top with a tandoori breast fillet (sliced in half and layered for nice presentation).  Drizzle the dressing liberally on and around the chicken and serve.

* I have a little tool for beans that slices them lengthways, French style.  If you don’t have one just slice them.