Chicken, shallot, cashew and mango salad — a Honey & Co Recipe

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We have lost our faith in whole chickens. Yes, we know they exist, we have just stopped believing that it is possible to cook a whole chicken without drying out the breasts to complete unpalatability. The legs are forgiving and full of flavour, the breasts tend to be blander and the distance between raw and woolly is mere minutes. Please do not talk to us about brining, wet or dry, or about removing the legs halfway and leaving them to cook longer. Life is too short to find elaborate solutions to avoidable problems. You can easily surmise which part we prefer. In almost nine years writing recipes for these pages, this is only our second chicken breast recipe.

Because the two parts of the bird cook and behave so differently, it is best to treat them as such. For the perfectly cooked, spot-on-tender, full of flavour bronzed chicken breast use skin-on breasts, preferably with the wing attached, from a really good bird. Let the skin colour slowly and gently in a pan, then place in the oven for a short blast of heat, but take it out before it’s fully cooked. Let it finish gently in the residual heat as it rests.

This would be perfect as is with mayonnaise or soft salted butter on the side, but seeing as it’s the height of summer it makes a lot of sense to combine the chicken with luscious slices of good mango, along with crunchy lettuce leaves, coriander, lime and a scattering of these chilli cashews, which you may want to double up on — you’ll likely find yourself nibbling on them as the chicken rests.

Chicken, shallot and mango salad with chilli roasted cashews

To serve 4-6 as a light summer lunch

For the chicken and dressing

For the salad

For the chilli cashews

1. Heat your oven to 200C with fan assist.

2. Pat the chicken breasts dry and season all over with plenty of salt and pepper. Heat a large frying pan or skillet that can fit in the oven on a medium heat, add the coconut oil, then the chicken breasts, skin side down and fry for about 10 minutes until the skin is all golden.

3. Add the whole coriander seeds to the skillet and transfer the entire thing into the oven. Roast for seven minutes. Remove from the oven, flip so the skin side is facing up, cover and rest for 10 minutes.

4. Mix the cashews with their ingredients and place in the oven at the same temperature. Roast for five minutes, shake, roast for another five minutes, then remove and cool.

5. Remove the chicken breast to a chopping board, return the skillet to the hob with all the juices that have accumulated and add the shallot slices. Sauté for five minutes. Add the remaining lime zest and juice, the chopped coriander plus 100ml water. Mix to combine and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat.

6. Place the lettuce wedges on a platter, slice the chicken breast and scatter over, along with the mango slices. Top with the warm dressing from the skillet, sprinkle with roasted cashews and a few coriander fronds and serve.

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