Get ready for the salad that will become your summer obsession. It’s light and tasty with enough healthy fats and protein in it to keep you full. Sunshine in a bowl!

I think this salad comes from 2 dishes I love, these Yotam Ottolenghi Prawns and this miso butter dressed corn and cucumber salad. This is my amalgamation and take on those ideas and I think it’s pretty delicious. I also think you definitely need to try it. The sweet corn and creamy avocado are perfect with the salty umami like miso marinade – yum!

If you cook Asian food regularly then most of  the marinade ingredients should be pantry times, Miso keeps in the fridge for a while and is a great substitute for stock cubes so it’s basically a flavour life saver. If you’re not already into it you’ve gotta try it. It’s readily available and supermarkets in Australia now too making it easy for everyone to get their hands on.

Can we have a moment over how much the colours of this salad scream summer? If you’re in Melbourne you’re probably shivering today and wondering when the weather is going to get warm. I’m going to gently remind you that you live in Melbourne, so you’ll need to be patient with that one as well all know our amazing city isn’t known for it’s reliable weather. But never fear, the rest of this week is look like sunshine and lollipops so it’s perfect summery salad weather (yes I do know it’s only spring).

I also want to send a quick message of sunshiney love to all my New Zealand friends, family and readers. It’s been a tough start to the week for most of the country and I hope those aftershocks are subsiding quickly. I don’t have friends and family in Japan and Argentina but I know the Pacific Ring didn’t let you off scot free on Sunday either so sending love to all of you too. I was in Christchurch in 2011 when the 5.8 (I think?) earthquake hit and that was pretty scary (and the biggest I remember being in, despite a childhood in Wellington full of regular little tremors), can’t imagine what one of this magnitude felt like, and how nerve wracking the huge aftershocks must be.

Thinking of you all and now back to salad…

Serves 2

Ingredients

1.5 cucumber, sliced into thin long ribbons

1 avocado, finely sliced

2 cobs corn

4 radishes, finely sliced

1.5 cups mint leaves, whole and torn (washed)

Miso Marinade

1 heaped Tbs miso paste

1 Tbs soy sauce

2 Tbs water or chicken stock

few drops sesame oil

1 tsp olive oil

1 tsp ginger, minced or freshly grated

300g chicken breast

Dressing

Juice of 1 lime

1 tsp olive oil

1 Tbs miso marinade

1 birdseye chilli, finely diced

½ tsp coconut sugar or maple syrup

Directions

Combine the marinade ingredients in a medium sized bowl and stir well. Remove 1 Tbs of the marinade and place in a jar, set aside.

Lay the chicken breast out, cover with baking paper on cling film and using a mallet or a pestle beat until 1 cm thick. Cut into 4-5cm wide pieces. Toss chicken in the marinade and set aside for 2 minutes if you can.

Meanwhile prepare the salad. Steam corn for 10 minutes then place on a hot grill or over a direct flame to blacken the kernels slightly. Allow to cool and then use a knife to remove the kernels from the cob. Don’t separate the kernels, chunks of kernels still stuck together work well.

In a large bowl combine the cooked corn with the cucumber ribbons, avocado, radish, and mint leaves.

Make your dressing using the reserved tablespoon of marinade and combine it with the remaining dressing ingredients. Shake well.

Heat a heavy based fry pan or grill and frill the chicken for 3 minutes on each side. Allow to rest for a few minutes then slice finely.

Drizzle the dressing over the salad, toss to coat and then top with the sliced chicken.

HH. x