Bursting with fresh, aromatic Thai flavours, this venison dish is easy to make and will delight loved ones as a winning dish this spring
Welcome in the warmer months with a delicious, Thai-inspired venison dish, full of flavour and health benefits, created by award-winning chef Neil Brazier from The Sugar Club at SKYCITY, Auckland.
The recipe is easy to recreate at home. Surprise and delight friends who are used to cooking venison in heavy, wintery casseroles, or serve to the family for an outstanding mid-week spring time supper.
Venison is an incredible versatile meat, it has low fat and a high iron content so it makes a fantastic addition to a healthy diet. It’s readily available in New Zealand too, and matches to a variety of wines and beers dependent on the dish you’re cooking.
Neil Brazier’s Thai Style Seared Venison Salad
With a pineapple, peanuts and chilli lime dressing
Serves 4 people as a starter or light lunch, or multiply the ingredients by a half for a main course
Salad
440g farm raised venison steaks, at room temperature
1 tbsp neutral oil e.g. rice bran
100g pineapple, peeled, cored and diced
25g roasted peanuts, chopped
2 spring onions, sliced thinly
1 handful of coriander, roughly chopped with stalks
1 tbsp mint leaves, roughly chopped
20g thai jasmine rice
Chilli Lime Dressing
25g palm sugar, grated or finely chopped
50ml lemon juice
15ml lime juice
25ml fish sauce
½ red chilli chopped, including seeds
Garnish with a handful of extra herbs – coriander, basil or mint works well
Method
Dry toast the rice in a pan until golden in colour, leave to cool and then grind in a spice grinder or pestle and mortar. Make sure it is really fine, nearly a powder. Set aside.
Preheat a frying pan to a high heat. Lightly brush the venison with oil. Sear the venison over a high heat until just warm in the middle, allow 1-2 minutes each side (for rare). Remove from the pan, cover well and leave to rest in a warm spot for 5 minutes.
While the venison is resting, make the dressing. Combine all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and mix well. The palm sugar will dissolve after a couple of minutes.
To serve, slice the venison thinly across the grain. Transfer to a medium sized mixing bowl and combine with the dressing and all the other ingredients except the rice and extra herbs. Mix gently to combine. Place on to individual plates or serving platter and sprinkle with the toasted rice and herbs.