My signature dish: The "4-hour" salad

If you're the sort of person who cooks by taste, smell and guess-timation then this is the perfect dish for you.

Submitted by a member of the Gecko's web team, this recipe has been shrouded in secrecy for many years. In fact, this is the first time it has been shared.

Not willing to reveal his name, the mysterious staff member behind its inception said: "I made this recipe up one day and have never really written it down. But it's a staple at any BBQ and is always the salad that gets finished first."

Inspired by Chinese and Vietnamese salads, it was dubbed the "4-hour salad" because the chef (suffering a severe hangover) seemed to take forever to prepare it on one particular day.  

The 'meat'
Half Chinese cabbage
Large carrot
Large bunch of coriander
Small bunch Vietnamese mint
Spring onion or red onion
Red and yellow capsicum

The flavour
1 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 cup vinegar
1 tbs light soy sauce
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp MSG or 1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp lime juice
2tbsp sesame oil
Heaped tsp crushed ginger
Heaped tsp crushed garlic
Water - enough to dissolve ingredients

The Garnish
Dried shrimp (optional but highly recommended)
Fresh Thai chilli (as much as you like, its meant to be killer hot)
Dried shallots

The mechanism
Julienne the 'meat'.

Use a mandolin for the carrot if you can. Finely chop the other 'meat' ingredients. This dish is meant to be eaten with chop sticks so everything should be long and thin.

Put all the flavour in a coffee cup, add a bit of water and microwave for 20 seconds to dissolve all the artery-hardening goodness. Put that in the fridge to cool down.

Mix the meat well and add the flavour when it's cooled down.

Garnish with the garnish.

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