Healthy Dinner

After many days of indulging my love of European cuisine I've decided to follow in the foot steps of my food hero Rick Stein and enjoy some of the simpler healthier meals of the Asian persuasion available in our fair multicultural Australia.

Last night I made a deliciously light salad of finely shredded cabbage (thanks to my mandolin, a fabulous if dangerous kitchen implement), julienned carrot, cucumber and Spanish onion. To top it all off I poached a couple of chicken breasts in a little concoction of my own.
recipe: 1 litre of water, 2 tbsp of dark soy sauce, 1 star anise, 2 coriander stalks, some shallots, 1 tbsp of rice wine vinegar, 2 tsp of salt and 6 twists of a good pepper grinder, and 1 tsp each of ginger and garlic. Bring to the boil for a few minutes. Add the whole chicken breasts and bring to the boil again, simmer for 5 minutes and then take off the stove and let the chicken sit in the broth, covered for at least 20 minutes (I prefer to let the chicken sit for 30 minutes plus). After letting the chicken sit in the broth, remove and set on a plate until cool to the touch.

Shred the chicken breast by hand and add to the salad. For a little bit of extra volume I like to add a little bit of vermicelli ( or bean thread) noodles.

To make the noodles, just submerge in boiling water until soft, then using scissors cut into short lengths and add to the salad.

Tip: You don't need to salt and pepper the salad because the chicken will already have plenty of flavour from the poaching broth.

When it comes to making Asian inspired salad dressings, I find it difficult to pick a recipe, so I have found the perfect solution, buy a bottle of Thai dipping sauce ( the on used for spring rolls) and use as a dressing.

There you have it, a light and delicate salad, full of healthy veggies and poached chicken, for when you feel like you've over indulged on the European cuisine.