I don't know about you but whenever i come up with something i've not done before (something i've thought up not from a book) it takes me a few attempts to get it right. With that in mind I thought it might be interesting to document the way what i'm doing tonight evolves until I think its perfect. Feel free to comment or criticise me as you see fit.

So what i'm doing is making a yoghurt based marinade for chicken. then griddling the chicken and having with it some warm pitta bread and a sweet salad. Heres what i've done so far:

The Marinade
200g low fat greek yoghurt
1/2 large green chilli, deseeded, finely chopped
thumb sized piece of ginger grated
1 1/2 cloves of garlic grated
fresh coriander, one handful chopped
sea salt
pepper fresh ground
juice of half a lime
1/2 teaspoon turmeric

I'm currently marinading 3 chicken breast fillets in that mix, they will have about 3 hours in there before I grill them.

The salad
1/4 medium white cabbage shredded
1 red onion julienne
2 carrots julienne
1 yellow and 1 orange pepper julienne
1/4 green chilli deseeded and finely chopped

Salad dressing
4 table spoons EV olive oil
2 tablespoons olive oil flavoured with oregano and garlic
salt
pepper
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
juice of half a lime and half a lemon

I shall report back in a bit how every thing is

Right, as I thought it needs some work to get it working a bit better.

The chicken was really lovely and moist but tasted primarily of coriander and lime so the marinade needs some work. I'm going to make the following changes:

More ginger
More garlic
Red chilli instead of green and put some seed in
Add some fresh mint
More turneric
More pepper
More salt

The salad worked fine but was always going to.

The salad dressing needs more oomph so i'm going to make the following changes

Less EV olive oil
More vinegar
More juice
More pepper
Add some mustard

I'll report back once the changes are made

I wish I had your enthusiasm for experimentation. :)

Have you tried lemongrass in your marinade? Nice if you want a slightly thai feel (likewise you could also use coconut)

Have you tried lemongrass in your marinade? Nice if you want a slightly thai feel (likewise you could also use coconut)I did consider cocnut but i was concerned it would be too sweet, the lemongrass is something that if I couldn't get it to work was on my potentials list of stuff to go in. As was putting fennel in the salad

I wish I had your enthusiasm for experimentation. :)Things have got to be right haven't they!

I'm sure everyone does this with recipes

Things have got to be right haven't they!

I'm sure everyone does this with recipes

I did this with my mousaka, kept experimenting with different herbs, spices and flavourings until I hit the jackpot.

I did this with my mousaka, kept experimenting with different herbs, spices and flavourings until I hit the jackpot.How many attempts did it take you to get it just right?

Usually takes me at least 4-5 go's to anything spot on

It was probably about 5 attempts. I don't tend to follow recipes from books so I was experimenting with the sauce and the topping. I've ended up only using two main flavourings, ground cumin and nutmeg

May I ask you a question?

Are you trying to recreate something that you have tasted in your life?
Or, actually trying to create something that you personally like?

If it's the first one, then I can give input, but if it's the second one, then this will be a moving target, and it is a more personal preference.

What I always do is follow this rule of thumb:
Strongest flavour ingredient -> use less
Subtle flavour ingredient -> use more

Some things which stood out for me is, don't use salt and pepper, as this is always added by chefs that you see on tv, and it removes the subtle tastes of other ingredients. I am fairly certain that some people just add that to give this "samey" taste that they have had all their lives. Since you're kind of aiming for a greek style. I would omit this. But if you are aiming for a personal taste, then add it?

May I ask you a question?

Are you trying to recreate something that you have tasted in your life?
Or, actually trying to create something that you personally like?

If it's the first one, then I can give input, but if it's the second one, then this will be a moving target, and it is a more personal preference.

What I always do is follow this rule of thumb:
Strongest flavour ingredient -> use less
Subtle flavour ingredient -> use more

Some things which stood out for me is, don't use salt and pepper, as this is always added by chefs that you see on tv, and it removes the subtle tastes of other ingredients. I am fairly certain that some people just add that to give this "samey" taste that they have had all their lives. Since you're kind of aiming for a greek style. I would omit this. But if you are aiming for a personal taste, then add it?It was just an idea I had, its not an ori9ginal idea by any means but its just something that we can knock up in a couple of hours and enjoy. Its not quite right yet which is why its a work in progress.