Thai Chicken Salad

December 12, 2000

I went along to the launch of Savour New Zealand last week. In May next year Christchurch, New Zealand will be the venue for an imaginative masterclass for food and wine lovers.

It will be a two-day workshop event for foodies, featuring the best of our country's food and wine, and, with Julia Child as patron, will bring together international stars of the food industry to conduct master classes, demonstrations, discussions and displays.

International master class leaders will include Sophie Grigson, Lyn Hall and Clare Ferguson from the UK, and Stephanie Alexander and Maggie Beer from Australia. They are some of the greatrest influencers of consumer buying behaviour and of what we eat, drink and cook.

Participants can choose from a full programme of events including a gala dinner, as well as regional tours to sample specialised cuisine such as spa cookery at Hanmer Springs (a venue I mentioned last month).

Numerous food writers, chefs, professional cookery tutors, people involved in the food industry and foodies in general mingled, sipping bubbly, at the launch and there was quite an aura of enthusiasm for the venture. Christchurch has many local food and wine attractions and this promises to be a weekend of indulgence.

Savour New Zealand's website should be worth watching if you want more details.

This time of the year tends to be a fairly social one and home cooking often takes a back seat to cocktail canapes and meals out. Among the more innovative nibbles I encountered during the week were tiny banana flavoured pikelets (like a small pancake) topped with sliced rare beef and chutney, and delicate little short pastry shells filled with crabmeat spiked with Thai seasoning.

When we have had time to eat at home, vegetables and salads have been high on the priority list. Cocktail snacks tend to be of the protein and carbohydrate variety and it's good to redress the balance.

Here's a meal we enjoyed before setting out to Handel's Messiah last Saturday night. This is not an authentic Thai dish, but the dressing is Thai inspired.

Thai Chicken Salad

1 boneless chicken breast per person. Leave the skin on.
3 tablespoons light olive oil
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons tamari sauce
1 tablespoon sweet chilli sauce
1 teaspoon sesame seed oil

Heat a pan until hot and add a smear of olive oil. Sear the chicken breasts both sides then cook a further 4-5 minutes each side until the chicken is cooked.

Slices into even slices, about 1/2 centimetre thick and place in a bowl. Whisk the remaining ingredients together and pour over the chicken. Turn the chicken over in the dressing and set aside, preferably in the refrigerator.

Take individual serving plates and assemble a variety of salad ingredients on each. Chose from mixed lettuce, thin celery sticks, red onion rings, tomato chunks, cucumber slices, red pepper slivers, sliced radishes, bean sprouts, avocado slices sprinkled with lemon juice, sliced strawberries - whatever takes your fancy.

Top each salad mound with chicken pieces and pour over any remaining dressing. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.

This can be served hot, warm, or at room temperature. Just ensure the chicken is not sitting around on the bench if you are not using it immediately.