Thai {Chicken} Salad

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away....oh wait. Scratch that. A while back, I made a Thai chicken pizza. It was delicious.  I had thought about turning it into a salad as I had a bunch of left over sauce for the base. Well, I finally did it. I`ve made this 3 times now, once with chicken, once without for lunch (hubby thinks the dressing is so good he`s happy to eat it just on lettuce), and once as a spicy version. I have let the sauce/dressing sit in the fridge for a week and then heated it up in the microwave and it was perfectly fine.

What you need:

For the dressing:  1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup hoisin sauce (getting harder to find it seems)
1/8 cup honey
1/8 cup sake, I have been using white wine vinegar since I couldn`t find any the first time, and since it`s tasted great, have not yet tried the sake.
2 tsp grated fresh ginger (or 1/2 - 1 Tbsp powder)
1/2 tsp minced garlic (2 cloves)
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 Tbsp fish sauce

For the rest:
about 400 g chicken (if using)
your favorite greens
1/2 cucumber, peeled
1 avocado, cubed
coconut milk
cilantro (koriander)

First, add the dressing ingredients to a pot and cook on medium until well mixed. Set aside and let cool.

When the sauce is cool, if you are using chicken, add 1-2 Tbsp of sauce to the chicken and mix well. Refridgerate at least 30 minutes, or overnight.

Put about 1 Tbsp of sesame oil in a pan and let it get hot. Add the chicken and stir fry until cooked through. If you would like to make it a little spicy, use chili oil. You can make your own if you don`t have any available. I shall post that recipe soon. Time the cooking of the chicken to how you would like to eat it. You can have this salad either hot, or let the cooked chicken sit until you are ready. I find that easiest.

Peel some cucumber into strips and dice an avocado (my avocado decided it didn`t want to be ripe enough to eat today, but that`s ok, it will be ready for leftovers!)

Put your greens on a plate or in a bowl, add the cucumber and avocado and toss. Top with chicken.

Take the cooled dressing and add about 2 tsp of coconut milk and mix thoroughly. You want to add enough to get it to the consistency you desire, so add more or less as you prefer. It should be thicker than a normal dressing, but easy to mix in.

Top with a few pieces of cilantro.

If you would like, you could also spread the dressing on a tortilla, add your salad ingredients and wrap it up like a burrito.

Another option is to have it as a side, without the chicken in the salad, but instead making chicken satay. Yum!

Enjoy!

Salad with mustard dressing and shrimp

Last night we had another wonderful cooking class.  Going into it I thought (yet again) that there would not be a lot I would be interested in (seafood and spicy things I do not like and the menu included both), but of course, yet again, I did enjoy everything (avoiding the shrimp though).  If you are in Thalwil, I definitely recommend stopping in and grabbing a bite to eat!  I will post the other dishes in a separate post as it is time to wake the baby!

He will be hosting a wine and cheese tasting sometime in October which unfortunately I will be unable to attend as I will be on vacation (yay), so hopefully someone will take good notes for me and I will be able to review some of the wines...doing my own research of course!

First course was the salad with Black Tiger Shrimp and a mustard dressing

What you need:

1/2 of a large red bell pepper
1 garlic clove, crushed and minced
1/4 cup of chopped fresh chives
salt and pepper
Olive oil, about 1/2 cup
Basalmico, about 1/4 cup
Mustard. 1/3 cup
various greens
Black Tiger shrimp
White wine, about 2 Tbls




Make your salad with whichever greens you choose

Dice the red bell pepper very finely. Also dice the chives. Crush the garlic and chop finely as well.

Put in a bowl and add the mustard and pepper. Mix.

Add the balsamico and olive oil. You may need a little more oil to get the consistency you want

For the shrimp, make sure you have a very hot pan and add some olive oil. Lay the shrimp in. Saute.

When they are almost done, add some garlic so that it does not have time to burn

When they are done, add a little bit of white wine

Top your salad with the dressing and then add the shrimp. 

Thai salad and dressing

Here is the salad and dressing that I made:

Salad - what you need:

 1-2 package(s) of lettuce
1 cucumber
korriander (cilantro)
basil
1 bunch green onions
Optional: avocado

Put the lettuce in a bowl and chop up about 3/4 of the package and 1/2 of the basil package.  Slice the scallions.  You can either slice the cucumber or peel it and use the peeler and make long strips.

Add to the lettuce and mix

For the salad dressing:

You can prepare this ahead of time, but be sure and shake well before serving.  I drizzled some on the salad and then put the rest on the table in a bottle I'd found in Coop for people to add more.

What you need:

1 cup Coconut milk
2 Tbsp Soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp lime juice
2-3 cloves garlic
2 tsp brown sugar (muscovado)

 Mix everything and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Either use it immediately or put it in the fridge and shake when ready to use.

And here is the salad with the dressing

Salad time!

Tonight we had a Caprese Salad.  I discovered this wonderful version at Vapiano - Sihlcity (http://www.vapiano.de/frame.php?lang=ch)  They have lots of wonderful dishes all that you can tailor to your own wants.  Salad, Pizza and Pasta bars with lots of combinations available.  They get very busy at lunch time and open at 11, so if you want to eat, go early.  They also offer take away - and the take away bowls are fantastic for storing your leftovers in :)

Caprese Salad. Things you will need:

Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Cherry tomatoes
Red onion
Pepper
Basil
Mozzarella balls
Bread

Half or quarter the cherry tomatoes (or dice regular tomatoes).
Dice the onion
Pull out 2 basil leaves for every plate you are making - for decoration
Cut into thin slices/strips the rest of the basil.
Slice the bread

Place a cheese ball on a plate. Scatter the tomatoes around it and sprinkle some basil slices on top. Also sprinkle some red onion around.  Grind some fresh pepper over the top of the cheese and drizzle with olive oil. Drizzle the vinegar on top as well. Press the 2 basil sprigs you saved into the top of the cheese ball.  Add a side of the sliced bread. Enjoy!

Simple and easy, great for a warm summer night.
Optional - scatter a few miniature mozzarella balls around as well.