This Chicken and Melon Salad (with Coconut Sambol) is one of the most satisfying and guilt-free salads you’ll ever taste!
Coconut sambol
Coconut sambol (or pol sambol) is a uniquely Sri Lankan recipe! Ask any Sri Lankan and they’ll tell you how much they love it and how much of a staple dish it is in their meals. It’s often eaten with rice, bread, potatoes, sweet potatoes etc. You can see how I’ve paired it with some other Sri Lankan dishes like this jackfruit curry (polos curry) and authentic coconut roti (pol roti). You can also see the green pepper sambol version that I made in my black pork curry post. The original version however is made with red chili peppers, chili powder, lemon, onions and dried fish flakes. Here I have modified it ever so slightly by removing the fish flakes and adding some lemongrass to complement this salad. And I dried out this mix completely by toasting the coconut sambol in a dry non stick frying pan. Like I said, this coconut sambol is a staple in almost every Sri Lankan household and it completely transforms this salad! I mean it’s not even the same thing without the sambol. I used to love eating it as a sandwich filling (where this sambol would just go between two slices of buttered bread, that’s it, and you’d never realize how amazing that combo is until you try it!), and one of my non Sri-Lankan friends used to call it the “orange sandwich”. 🙂 Occasionally, I also add it as a layer in my rainbow sandwiches (ribbon sandwiches) – this is not authentic, but a uniquely flavorful and colorful filling layer regardless! The deep orange color comes from the red chili peppers and chili powder. It packs a wallop in terms of heat (which of course you can change to your liking), and every bite is packed with the nuttiness of coconut, the spicy heat of red chili, the sweetness and saltiness of onions and the tartness of lemon and lime, all mixing and mingling with each other to completely elevate this salad. One of my (and my husband’s) favorite ways to eat steamed rice is with just coconut sambol and a gravy made out of coconut milk. That’s it. Wakes up all the taste buds in my mouth and every single neuron in my brain that’s connected to all the sweet memories of my childhood, without fail. There’s no denying it, the star of this chicken and melon salad is the sambol. It ties together all the flavors of the perfectly cooked chicken, the rock melon and the tangy dressing and adds a nice textural element as well.
Salad dressing
My other favorite component in this salad is the dressing! It’s a spicy, tangy, sweet dressing and it gives incredible flavor to anything that it comes in contact with. I heated oil and used that hot oil to “sizzle” all the ingredients of the dressing (see below) so that they cook together, which helps all the flavors blend together. Once those dressing ingredients have been “cooked” and mixed well together, I add the tamarind (instead of vinegar) which results in a nice thick paste. To use it as a dressing I dilute it with some water. You can even use the undiluted paste and maybe even toss it with the chicken too. I chose to drizzle this fantastic dressing over the perfectly poached chicken, red bell peppers and salad leaves instead. Some rock melon slices, and a sprinkling of coconut sambol later, your delicious chicken and melon salad is ready to be served (and devoured)! Besides a classic panzanella salad, this is easily one of my favorite healthy salad recipes. If you liked this recipe, don’t forget to subscribe for new (and free) recipes and updates by entering your email address below (and get all these recipes delivered straight to your inbox), so you don’t miss out on a thing. You can find me on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, PINTEREST and GOOGLE-PLUS too. I share pictures of recipes to come on the blog plus other awesome recipes I find out there that I want to try. So I hope you do stop by and say hi! 🙂
