(Healthier) Fried Chicken Salad

We have to give credit to Rocco Dispirito for this - we saw this on the Food Network and thought that it would be fun to try for lunch - the short version is that this was GREAT! 

Ingredients:

1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced
2 quarts Canola oil (we were supposed to use grape seed oil but it was too expensive)
1 TB diced feta cheese
4 TB olive oil
2 TB balsamic vinegar
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs
Ground black pepper
2 1/4 tablespoons Goya Adobo seasoning
2 egg whites
2 1/2 tablespoons paprika
3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
2 cups rough cut green leaf lettuce
10 cherry tomatoes, quartered
1/2 ripe Hass avocado

The salad is the easy part here -cut things up and mix the salad, without the olive oil and vinegar, and set aside.  The chicken should be trimmed and quartered then laid flat on a plate.  Cover with a paper towel and microwave for 1:30.  Remove from microwave, flip and rotate the chicken pieces so that the ones in the middle are placed on the edge of the plate (they should be the least cooked) and then re-cover and microwave for an additional 1:30.  Start heating the oil to 375.

Beat the egg whites until they are very foamy and mix the Adobo seasoning, paprika, and flour. Once the Canola oil is heated, toss the chicken in the egg whites and then in the flour / seasoning mix, drop in the hot oil for about 30 seconds - remove and drain on a paper towel.  The chicken will come out crispy and moist (nearly flash fried)... we were supposed to use grape seed oil and cook at 400 for about 12 seconds, but we didn't want to spend the $20 it would have cost to buy the oil!  FYI - we cooked the chicken in two batches. 

Once the chicken is ready, place on the salad and then mix the oil and balsamic dressing over it all.  We added some fresh ground pepper and this was REALLY TASTY!  (if you have lime, try some on this as well)

We hope you enjoy - Rach and Matt