{"id":16976,"date":"2022-02-19T07:38:32","date_gmt":"2022-02-19T12:38:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/?p=16976"},"modified":"2022-02-19T07:38:32","modified_gmt":"2022-02-19T12:38:32","slug":"jerk-chicken-salad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/?p=16976","title":{"rendered":"Jerk Chicken Salad"},"content":{"rendered":"

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It had been One Of Those Days and I decided to reward myself with jerk chicken from one of the best spots in Brooklyn for that sort of thing. I hadn\u2019t been there for a couple of years (feels like I haven\u2019t been anywhere for a couple of years) so my visit was long overdue.<\/p>\n

I got a large order, brought it home, and proceeded to chow down \u2013 but after a few ravenous chomps, I realized that somehow its distinctive mojo had dwindled during the long hiatus.<\/p>\n

Apparently it was still One Of Those Days.<\/p>\n

So I stashed the remainder in the fridge with an eye toward reinvention; jerk chicken salad sounded like a plan. But when I embarked on the task, after tasting a bite, I became aware that most of the character had resided in the now flabby skin \u2013 definitely not a component for chicken salad of any stripe \u2013 hence the Jamaican accent would need to come from the dressing.<\/p>\n

I always have a can of coconut milk in the pantry, but the base required something tangier. So I combined buttermilk with one of my \u201csecret\u201d ingredients, coconut milk powder; I never use the stuff to reconstitute into coconut milk, its intended destination, but rather for augmentation purposes like this. I tossed in a succession of ingredients with my customary reckless abandon, tasting along the way. (If you\u2019re curious: I ended up with a little jerk seasoning that had been languishing in a jar in the fridge, Pickapeppa sauce, Jamaican curry powder, allspice, a few drops of liquid smoke, sugar, salt and pepper; the herbal element consisted of minced fresh hot pepper, cilantro, and fresh thyme, all allowed to rest so the flavors could meld.)<\/p>\n

When the dressing was ripe, I folded it into the diced chicken along with diced mango for sweetness, diced jicama for crunch, and the white parts of chopped scallion for zing, let that mature for a while, and then plated it topped with cutting celery (aka leaf celery), the green parts of the scallion, and a sprinkle of smoked paprika.<\/p>\n

Turns out there was no need to be concerned about how much cash I had shelled out on the original \u2013 I was delighted with the outcome. I should have heeded those Jamaican words of wisdom: “Don\u2019t worry…be happy!”
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It had been One Of Those Days and I decided to reward myself with jerk chicken from one of the best spots in Brooklyn for that sort of thing. BUT…. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3336,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[98],"class_list":["post-16976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-home-cookin","tag-jamaican"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3336"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16976"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16985,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16976\/revisions\/16985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}