Kangaroo Salad with Asian flavours - hop to it

While kangaroos are a wild animal in Australia, they are a protected species and can only be harvested under licence.  Kangaroo meat has been legalised for human consumption in Australian States since 1993, and the meat is exported to countries such as Germany, France and England.

Roo meat is also readily available in Australian supermarkets, though it isn't considered a popular meat compared to, say, beef.  It is high in protein and low in fat, however, so consumption is becoming more widespread.  It has quite an intense flavour (gamey) that may take some getting used to, although you can substitute beef for kangaroo in most recipes.

Which is where this dish comes in.  The recipe is from Jill Dupleix in delicious magazine (Feb 2010).  It's a colourful and aromatic melding of Asian-inspired flavours while using kangaroo fillet as the base.  The original recipe emphasises the Thai flavours by using mint, basil and coriander in the salad, but personally, I prefer less 'herb-y' flavours, so used normal spinach and rocket leaves instead.

Thai Kangaroo Salad with crisp-fried garlic
serves 4

Ingredients
600g kangaroo fillets, trimmed
1 tblsp soy sauce
1 tblsp seseame oil
2 tblsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
6 cherry tomatoes, halved
2 eschalots, thinly sliced
2 spring onions, thinly sliced on an angle
70g salad greens (eg. spinach and rocket) OR
1/2 cup basil, mint and coriander

Dressing
2 tblsp lime juice
2 tblsp fish sauce
1 tblsp olive oil
2 tsp caster sugar

Method
1. Combine kangaroo, soy sauce and sesame oil in a bowl and leave at room temperature for 30 minutes to marinate.
2.  Heat olive oil in a frypan over medium heat. Cook garlic for 1 minute each side or until light golden. Remove and drain on paper towel.
3.  Return frypan to high heat.  Drain excess marinade and juice from the kangaroo before searing meat for 2-3 minutes on each side (medium-rare).  Transfer to a plate and loosely cover with foil and rest for 15 minutes.
4.  For the dressing, whisk the dressing ingredients together in a bowl until the sugar dissolves.
5.  Place tomatoes, eschalot, spring onions and salad greens in a bowl.  Thinly slice the rested kangaroo and add to the bowl.  Sprinkle with the fried garlic.
6.  Serve with dressing on the side.

Recipe adapted from delicious (February 2010)

The marinating of the kangaroo meat (in soy sauce and sesame oil) really improves the flavour of the meat. Make sure you do not overcook the meat - the low fat content means it can dry out easily.

Serve the salad with the dressing to drizzle over.  The crispy fried garlic is a pungent but moreish accompaniment.