Bush Tomato Chicken Salad

Australia is such a large country, and so diverse you wouldn't think it would be challenging finding recipes.

And I guess if you want to make things that have lots of calories, kangaroo, crocodile or emu there are lots of recipes there for you to try.

So I started looking at restaurants in some of the major cities. Once thing I noticed is that chicken doesn't seem to be very popular. Even the BBQ places don't have a lot of chicken on their menus.

I did find one restaurant in Brisbane that has a chicken salad that looked interesting, and they even posted the recipe! Thank you Tukka Restaurant!

Remember I said we wouldn't be trying Bush Tucker? I'm keeping to my word, but the recipe calls for Bush Tomatoes.

I can only assume I'm seeing (but not trying) my first "berries that come from the outback and you really have to know what you're picking" bush tucker.

I tried to find something that would taste similar, and perhaps sun dried might be close.

I had to move on with the recipe without these delightful little things.




Most everything else I was able to obtain on the weekend if I didn't already have it in the pantry.

Bush Tomato Chicken Salad
(the recipe ingredients are listed as they are on the Restaurant website - make your own variations as I did)

For the Chicken
500g chicken breast sliced in half
10g ground bush tomato
15g sugar
10g salt

For the Salad
4 apricots (I used 4 slices dried)
1/2 a Spanish onion, sliced thin
1/2 a continental cucumber, sliced thin
1 punnet of cherry tomatoes, cut tomatoes in half
1/2 cup toasted macadamia nuts
500g mixed lettuce
1/2 lemon
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Since I didn't have bush tomatoes, cooking the chicken was rather easy. I had cooked an extra piece on the weekend with just a little salt. Sliced into bite size pieces.

Mix together the apricots, onion slices, cucumber slices, tomatoes, nuts, and lettuce. Squeeze the juice from the lemon over the top, and drizzle a little olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Add half the chicken pieces and toss. Plate and arrange the remaining chicken over the top.

Not all that different than the salads I would make. I might not have thought to add apricot, and I may search for fresh and try again. Maybe try cooking the chicken with a coating of sun dried tomato.
(Shelley)