Not that we've never made salads at home, but we're usually stumped on variety. My salads almost always have some combination of the same basic ingredients - lettuce, tomatoes, onions, parsley, olives, feta, croutons, mushrooms; and the same dressing - olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. On the odd occasion we deviate and cut up bite sized pieces of carrots, cucumber, lettuce or celery and serve it with a ranch dressing on the side. More commonly, we have indian raitha (yoghurt based salad with onions, cucumber and/or tomatoes).
So I was only too happy to oblige when mum asked me to go shopping for ingredients that had to go into a new chicken salad recipe she found. The recipe called for baby spinach, which sadly was not available in the market, so I substituted with a combination of lettuce and normal spinach (lightly stir-fried first). Other ingredients included snow peas, tomatoes, sweet red peppers, spring onions, cucumbers and finally coriander. Now coriander is a staple in indian cooking and somehow didn't fit in my mind as the right accompaniment to such definitely-not-indian ingredients like sweet red peppers, snow peas and lettuce! I could think of parsley or basil but coriander? Coriander is for curries right? I could extend its use to Thai cooking too, but this? Pushing my doubts aside however, I co-operated with this experiment expecting an interesting though not entirely harmonious result. Adding to my doubts was the dressing - sesame oil, soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce, vinegar - intense tastes on their own but how would they work with the already confused salad?
The result surprised me and reminded me somewhat of an Indian fusion dance. The sauteed chicken in garlic and olive oil absorbed some of the vinegar tang and soy sauce and turned into soft bursts of flavour through the salad. The sweetness of the snow peas and red peppers blended perfectly with the sweet and spicy chilli sauce and danced around with the strongly pungent citrusy flavour of the coriander. To be honest, I've never quite enjoyed the taste of coriander quite as much - it always seems to lose some flavour when sprinkled on hot cooked food. The raw, fresh, intense coriander taste was a real treat to my taste buds and while they didn't overpower they definitely complimented every ingredient in the salad! The spring onions lent their own element of surprise as they appeared now and then to provide that little extra pungent/sweet onion taste. The cucumbers, lettuce and tomatoes served no other purpose but to freshen the palate in among all the strong flavours fighting for prominence and thus they were highly appreciated! The mildly nutty, smoky sesame oil lent a strong appetite-arousing aroma to the dressing as it was being warmed but its taste seemed to get a bit lost in among all the tang, zing and salty/sweet of the salad. I felt it was there like the lighting on stage - to provide the atmosphere; that little bit extra that you wouldn't notice unless you really paid attention.
If salad is to be had as a main course for dinner, then I believe there needs to be soup or garlic bread as a starter or a side. Ciabatta was on my shopping list already and so it didn't take much imagination to decide on garlic bread - with a twist. I usually make garlic bread by stone-grinding butter, olive oil, garlic and a herb (usually fresh parsley or basil depending on what the main course is), spreading the mix on bread and always adding plenty of grated mozarella on top. This time I used the sesame oil instead of olive oil and coriander as my herb and ground some parmesan along with everything else. The sesame oil and parmesan really did their job in giving the garlic bread the 'twist' I desired. However, I had forgotten one important principle when it comes to coriander - the leaves lose their flavour when cooked and are best used as a garnish after taking off the heat! The coriander didn't give the bread the punch I expected, but I learn - next time use coriander as a garnish!All said and done, it was an immensely satisfying and filling meal and I look forward to the next salad expedition!
Till next time folks!
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