Low Fat High Protein Chicken Salad Sourdough Sandwich with Cottage Cheese Dressing
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2-3 Servings
 
Ingredients
For cottage cheese dressing:
  • Milk - 500 ml
  • Vinegar - 2 tbsp
For chicken salad:
  • Boneless & chicken thighs - 500 gms
  • Celery - 2 stalks
  • Black grapes - ½ cup
  • Extra virgin olive oil - 2 tbsp
  • Garlic powder - ½ tsp
  • Salt & pepper to taste
  • Sourdough bread - 4 slices
  • Fresh lettuce leaves - 4 to 6
  • Butter to toast
Instructions
How to make homemade cottage cheese:
  1. In a saucepan boil 2 cups/half a liter of milk. When the milk comes to a slow boil, switch off the flame.
  2. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of distilled white vinegar over the milk and using a spoon, give a gentle stir.
  3. Milk will start to curdle almost immediately. Allow the milk 2 to 3 minutes to curdle completely so that whey is completely separated from milk solids.
  4. Line a colander (perforated bowl) with cheesecloth. Place the colander over another bowl so that whey is captured in it.
  5. Pour the curdled milk with whey over the lined colander so that whey is drained out and milk solids (which are nothing but your homemade cottage cheese) are trapped in the cheesecloth.
  6. Wrap the cottage cheese in the cheesecloth and give a gentle press to squeeze out remaining water; but you don’t need to press too hard as it is okay to leave some amount of water in the cheese.
  7. Now transfer the cottage cheese to a food processor and process it until it transforms from a brittle texture to a smooth and creamy spread like consistency. It may take anywhere between 5 to 8 minutes depending on your processor speed.
  8. Your creamy cottage cheese is ready which will be used as the base of the high protein chicken salad dressing. Set it aside until needed!
How to make the chicken salad:
  1. Wash and pat dry the chicken thigh filets. Heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet.
  2. Once the oil is warm, place the chicken thighs on the skillet in a single layer. Leave them undisturbed for 6 to 8 minutes keeping the flame on medium.
  3. Sprinkle half of the garlic powder and salt over the chicken thighs. After about 8 minutes, flip them over gently and allow the other side to cook as well. Season this side with salt & remaining garlic powder too.
  4. Let the chicken cook completely so that there are no traces of pink and it turns opaque. It would take another 6 to 8 minutes.
  5. Check if the chicken thigh filets are completely cooked. If done, take them out on a plate and allow them to cool down.
  6. Once they are cool enough to handle, chop them up into small tiny pieces. Set it aside until needed.
  7. Chop the celery stalks into tiny pieces. Since I don't like big chunks of celery stalk while biting on my high protein chicken salad sandwich, I prefer to chop them finely. Halve each of the grapes.
  8. Let’s make the no-mayo yet creamy salad dressing now! In a medium mixing bowl, take the prepared cottage cheese and add the extra-virgin olive oil to it.
  9. Season the salad dressing with salt and pepper to taste. Now give a good mix using a wire whisk so that oil and cottage cheese are mixed together and the seasoning is also distributed evenly.
  10. To make the high protein chicken salad, take all the salad ingredients i.e. chopped chicken thighs, chopped celery and halved grapes in a large mixing bowl.
  11. Pour the prepared salad dressing over the salad ingredients. You can also add any seasoning of your choice at this step e.g. chilli flakes, chilli powder or Dijon mustard.
  12. Using a spatula start mixing all the ingredients together; the creamy cottage cheese dressing should coat each ingredient evenly & nicely and all the protein and fibers should be uniformly distributed.
  13. Once you are happy with your chicken salad with cottage cheese dressing, let it chill in the refrigerator while you prepare your sourdough breads!
  14. Take 4 sourdough bread slices. Heat a griddle or cast iron pan. Once hot, add half a teaspoon of butter into it.
  15. Let the butter melt, then place 2 sourdough slices side by side and toast them on low heat for 3 to 4 minutes.
  16. Flip them over after 3-4 minutes and allow the other side to toast with a little more butter for another couple of minutes.
  17. Take the sourdough slices out once they are nicely golden brown on both sides. Repeat the same to toast the remaining 2 sourdough slices.
  18. To finally assemble the high protein chicken salad sandwiches, take out the prepared chicken salad from the refrigerator.
  19. For each sandwich, first place 2 fresh lettuce leaves over one of the toasted bread slices.
  20. Then spread as much chicken salad as you wish on top of it. A ballpark amount would be about ½ a cup of filling per sandwich, but you can go wild here!
  21. Using a flat butter knife, spread out the chicken salad evenly over the bread slice. Then cover the sandwich with another toasted sourdough slice.
  22. Press the sandwich using your palm so that the bread slices stick to the chicken salad firmly. Repeat the same for remaining 2 toasted sourdough slices.
  23. Your low-fat high protein chicken salad sandwich with cottage cheese dressing is ready for a wholesome & fulfilling lunch! Enjoy!
Recipe by Flavor Quotient at https://flavorquotient.com/2024/11/low-fat-high-protein-chicken-salad-sandwich-with-cottage-cheese-for-weightloss/