Chile & Yogurt Chicken with Honeydew, Cucumber & Avocado Salad

So there's a za'atar grilled chicken recipe from last year that I LOVED and made multiple times during last summer. I almost wanted to make that recipe again to serve with this salad and then decided to try something new. This chicken recipe also uses yogurt as the marinade but with intriguing spices like amchur (dried mango powder) and dried fenugreek leaves...both of which are my top favorite spices for chaat-type dishes in Indian cuisine. So I decided to give it a try and this recipe is my top favorite grilled chicken recipe, especially when served with the mustard yogurt sauce that I recreated from memory. This mustard yogurt sauce is often used as a sauce (& soaking liquid) for Indian fried fritters called dahi wada and I absolutely loved it as a kid. If there was one thing I had no trouble eating, it was dahi wada. The cooling yogurt balances out the spices in the fritters and the contrast if chewy fritters to a silky yogurt sauce is magic. Try it at an Indian chaat restaurant one day if you find it!

Coming to the salad, I'm all about summer fruit right now. Summer fruit for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert sounds perfectly acceptable to me. Last year summer I made savory salads and other recipes with summer fruits as well, using strawberries, nectarines, peaches, apricots, plums & honeydew melons. This year I have a few more fruit salads up my sleeve so be on the lookout!

The dressing here is essentially what makes this salad. Don't skip the small amount of fish sauce in it, it really brings a ton of umami. Melons and cucumbers always pair well in a salad but with the addition of creamy avocado and crunchy peanuts with some refreshing mint, this salad is the height of summer fruits at its best. Enjoy!

Grilled Chicken recipe adapted from Bon Appetit
Makes 6 servings

Ingredients:
10 dried red chiles, soaked in hot water until tender and drained
2 inch piece ginger coarsely sliced
8 garlic cloves, peeled
1 cup plain yogurt (not greek)
1 large lemon, juiced
1 heaping tbsp ground coriander
1 heaping tbsp paprika
2 tsp amchur, dried mango powder
2 heaping tsp dried fenugreek leaves
1.5 tsp garam masala
2 heaping tsp ground cumin
1.5 tsp sea salt
2.25 lbs skinless boneless chicken thighs

Procedure:
Grind all the ingredients ( except for chicken) in a food processor/blender. Pour this marinade into a medium bowl with chicken in it. Mix well and let marinate overnight. Bring to room temperature for 1.5 to 2 hours before grilling. Heat grill on high for 10minutes and grill covered on medium high to medium for 14 minutes, turning once in between. Let rest for 5 minutes and serve with mustard yogurt sauce & a salad like honeydew, cucumber & avocado (both recipes below).

Indian Mustard Yogurt recipe of my own:
Makes 6 servings

Ingredients:
1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 dried red chiles

Procedure:
Mix yogurt and salt well. In a small pan (also called baghar/tarka pan in India), heat oil on high till shimmering. Add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds and red chiles and close lid. Let seeds pop on medium till well toasted. Immediately remove and pour this tempered oil over the yogurt and mix well.

Honeydew, Cucumber & Avocado salad recipe adapted from Bon Appetit
Makes 6 servings

Ingredients:
6 tbsp white wine vinegar
3/4 tsp sugar
1 tsp fish sauce
2 tsp grated ginger
1 jalapeno chile, quartered and sliced thinly
1 ~4 lb honeydew melon, sliced into thin wedges, peeled and wedges cut into halves crosswise
1 english cucumber, sliced half vertically and then sliced thinly
1 large avocado, sliced thin
3/4 cup mint leaves
1/3 cup roasted peanuts
1.5 tsp salt

Procedure:
Mix together, vinegar, sugar, fish sauce, ginger and jalapeño in a bowl and set aside. On a large platter/bowl mix together honeydew melon, cucumber, avocado and mint leaves. Drizzle the dressing on top and sprinkle the peanuts and salt. Toss everything together with your hands and serve immediately. If you don't want to serve the entire salad at once, divide the dressing without jalapeño into however many equal amounts you want and then add the jalapeño equally. Toss the divided equal amount of vegetables with each container of dressing and equal amount of peanuts and salt right before serving each time.