This dish simply exudes the flavors of curry and chicken, studded with chunks of artichoke hearts, pitted black olives and green peppers. More of a main dish than salad, serve it cold when the weather is hot or room temperature when it’s not or even warmed up if it’s chilly. The day I had lunch with my island neighbor Gayle Foster, who has used this recipe for a long time, we rediscovered the truth that some recipes make a better-the-next-day kind of dish, as we sat down for beautifully presented curried rice and chicken leftovers.
The curry is in the rice along with the bright tang of lemon juice. When you fold the chicken in with artichoke hearts, peppers, scallions, pitted black olives and mayonnaise and yogurt or sour cream, the whole thing smooths out and the flavor deepens. If you want a more pronounced curry flavor, you can certainly add it along with the dressing. Taste and add more if you wish.
Quite a bit of this dish can be prepared ahead of time. If you have roasted a chicken, the leftover meat is perfect picked off and cut up, or you can cook chicken thighs or breasts on purpose for it. Gayle wrote, “I usually cook a hen for dinner the week I make this and add the leftover chicken from that.”
The rice ought to be cooked a day ahead, and left to improve overnight. Gayle likes to use fresh grated ginger when she can get it, prefers yogurt to sour cream, and likes to garnish with toasted, slivered almonds. She pointed out that you can add water chestnuts and more green pepper, if you wish.
Then assemble it and serve. Gayle recommended a bed of lettuce, and cherry tomatoes to decorate it.
Just hope you’ll have plenty left over for another day’s lunch.
Gayle’s Cold Curried Rice with Chicken
Makes six to eight servings, generously
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups uncooked rice
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2-3 teaspoons curry powder, to taste
½ teaspoon turmeric
¼ cup olive oil
Juice of 2 lemons
2-3 cups cooked chicken meat, chopped small
½ green pepper, chopped small
½ cup scallions or 1 small red onion
1 to 1 ½ cups chopped jarred or canned artichoke hearts
Pitted, chopped black olives, optional
2/3 cup of mayonnaise
2/3 cup sour cream or thick yogurt
2 tablespoons toasted slivered almonds, optional
Lettuce and cherry tomatoes for garnish
Bring the chicken broth to a boil and add the rice along with the spices. Add salt to taste, depending on the saltiness of the broth.
When the rice has absorbed all the liquid, take off the heat and toss with the olive oil and lemon juice.
Refrigerate overnight.
Next day add the chicken, green pepper, scallions or onion, and artichokes, plus optional olives to the rice, and toss together.
Mix the mayonnaise and sour cream or yogurt and fold into the rice and chicken.
Taste and add more curry, or salt and pepper if desired.
Make a bed of lettuce and spread the rice and chicken over it, garnish with cherry tomatoes and optional slivered almonds.
