“Thai” Turkey Salad


I was aiming for Mexican-inspired, but this came out more like a café “Thai beef salad”.

While it was nice enough, I’d like to have another try at some point. The salad could use more zing — maybe fresh coriander?

The sauce also came out very salty (like a Thai fish sauce) so I may have added a bit too much salt.

Serves: 4
Cooking time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

Salad

  • 1 small wombok or other cabbage (~ 100-200 g), shredded
  • 1 red capsicum (bell pepper), sliced into strips
  • 1 Spanish (red) onion, diced
  • 1 can corn kernels

Turkey

  • 500 g turkey breast, sliced into 4 pieces
  • 1 onion, sliced
  • 1 cm ginger, chopped very finely
  • 1 tsp coriander seeds
  • 1 tsp chilli flakes
  • 1 tbsp dried coriander (cilantro) leaves
  • Reserved corn liquid
  • Salt & (optionally) pepper, to season

Method

Drain corn, reserving liquid. Toss with wombok, capsicum, and onion, and set the salad aside.

In a hot pan, fry onion, ginger, and spices until fragrant.

Add turkey to pan. Sear well on all sides, then reduce heat to low, and fry until cooked through.

Once turkey is cooked, remove it to rest somewhere warm.

Return pan to high heat, deglaze with reserved corn liquid, then add coriander. Reduce sauce to desired thickness — not too thick, this is your salad dressing!

(If any liquid has drained out of the turkey, add that to the sauce too.)

Divide salad between four plates. Top each with a piece of turkey, drizzle on sauce, and serve. You could probably slice the cooked turkey first, but I was too lazy to bother.

Pork and Apple Pizza

According to Stephanie Alexander (in The Cook’s Companion), apples go with both pork and cheese. This got me wondering if you could have them on pizza.

(This recipe seemed to work, but I’ve only tried it just now. Your mileage may vary.)

Ingredients

A bottle of "Ayam" plum sauce. The sauce is a light brown colour.

Plum Sauce

  • 1x 26cm pizza base (or equivalent; I used two smaller ones)
  • 200 grams pork loin
  • 2cm piece fresh ginger
  • pinch nutmeg
  • 1 large apple
  • 1 spring onion
  • 150 grams grated cheese
  • 2 tablespoons plum sauce (I also tried tomato paste, but it’s too salty)

I used a supermarket plum sauce, made in Malaysia. I don’t know if the reddish-purple home-made plum sauce would work or not.

Method

Pre-heat oven to 250 degrees Celsius.

Dice pork into 1cm cubes.

Chop ginger and sauté with nutmeg. Add pork, and fry until meat is cooked through.

While pork is cooking, dice apple and chop onion.

Assemble pizza (spread base with plum sauce, add seasoned meat, apple, and onion, and top with cheese), and bake for 30 minutes.

A pizza. The base is topped with a clear brown sauce, then apples and pieces of white meat, and finally cheese.

The finished pizza.
I cooked this one at too low a temperature, so the cheese hasn’t melted properly.