Malaysian Kerabu Salad

Chicken Kerabu Salad Recipe

Westfield "Engage the Senses" Kerabu Salad Inspired by Penang Restaurant

Recipe Type: Salads

Cuisine: Asian

Author: Caroline Artiss

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 40 mins

Total time: 55 mins

Serves: 4

I was so happy when Westfield asked me to be a part of their “Engage the Senses” campaign. I was asked to make a dish for four people under £50, which if course being a single mom and chef that is my speciality – cooking on a budget. I was inspired by Penang Restaurant at Westfield London to make something Malaysian, seeing as I am half Malaysian myself. This dish is a firm favorite for dinner parties at my house as it is quite unusual and all the flavors certainly get the senses going.

 To check out the Westfield site https://uk.westfield.com/london

 Cooking involves using all your senses all the time, it’s an extremely important part of it. We use our sight to see if the food looks fresh, cooked properly and for presentation. We use our hearing in the kitchen to listen to pans bubbling and sizzling, and hopefully not burning! We use our sense of touch to feel the textures of the food while preparing them. Of course we use our taste buds to test the dish for seasoning and flavors, and our sense of smell to make sure the food is fresh and during the whole cooking process. In Malaysia this dish is normally a wonderful salad made predominantly with just beansprouts. My version makes more a meaty salad for dinner with added, chicken, roasted butternut squash and green beans.

Ingredients

• Salad:

• 200 g Long green beans, cut in half on the diagonal

• 300g Chicken breast (approx 3 chicken breasts)

• 200 g Bean Sprouts

• 200g Approx. Butternut squash peeled and cubed

• 100 g Desiccated coconut

• Dressing / Spice paste

• 4 Shallots peeled

• 5 long Red chilies – deseeded

• 1/2 tsp. Turmeric powder

• ¼ tsp. Salt

• 1 tsp. Sugar

• 2 tsp. fish sauce or dried shrimps

• 1 ¼ tsp. ground coriander

• Peanut or sunflower oil

Instructions

1. Start by preparing the salad ingredients

2. Place the chicken breasts on a large piece of tinfoil

3. Drizzle a couple of tablespoons of water over the top

4. Wrap up and pop on a tray in the oven until poached and cooked through

5. Approx 20 – 25 minutes.

6. At the same time, roast the butternut squash with a drizzle of olive oil and pinch of salt and pepper until it is tender, approx. 25 -30 minutes.

7. Pop a pan of water on to boil.

8. Add beans to a sieve or big slotted spoon and lower into the boiling water for 10 – 15 seconds

9. Take out and run under some cold water. You want the beans nice and crunchy for the salad

10. Add the bean sprouts to the water and literally dunk them in, count to 5 and take them out

11. They just need a tiny blanch

12. You can add all the salad ingredients to one big bowl

13. Add all the spice paste ingredients to a food processor or pestle and mortar and blend until finely ground

14. Before you cook the spice paste, put your frying pan or wok onto heat

15. Add the desiccated coconut without any oil and dry fry until it turns golden brown

16. This is simply just toasting the coconut, transfer coconut to a bowl and leave to one side

17. Using the same pan, add 1 big tablespoon of peanut oil and the spice paste and cook on a low/ medium heat for approx. 5-6 minutes

18. You want all the flavors to develop and cook together, it will turn a darker color, just keep stirring so it doesn’t stick to the pan

19. Turn off heat, add the coconut and mix in

20. Next add all the salad ingredients and toss everything together

21. Make sure all ingredients are coated in the spice paste

22. Check for seasoning, add a little more salt if required and serve