IN the past two weeks I have had the unfortunate privilege of two friends gloating about their pre-summer holidays in Asia. I had to sit there and listen to how good Thai streetfood is, how delectable the warm weather was and how they munched on cheap and yummy salads jammed packed with seafood that we can only dream about here (unless we want to part with a wad of cash).
Looking at the forecast for this weekend (summer, is that you!?) I have decided to give you my Thai seafood salad recipe and it is a real a cracker.
So it’s time to dust off the salad bowl and drag out the wooden tongs (that some random mate gave you at a BBQ years ago) and feast on this winning salad.
Now first, for a quick re-cap on the Thai cuisine. It’s all a balance of sweet and sour and it’s best to use natural sugars and citrus juices from fruits and paste to create those flavours that drive our palates wild.
An important tip to always remember is the ingredients must be combined at the last second; this will keep the ingredients, the dish and the flavours fresh and pungent. That is why the street food is so good in Thailand.
So set your kitchen up like a street stall — main ingredients, meats, dressing in a bowl and a serving bowl, and not only will this combination help you throw together a salad to impress, it’ll make it damn tasty too.
So let’s get cracking on my Thai seafood salad. The top supermarkets have a great range of blanched fresh seafood portions available – look for prawns, mussels or a mixed seafood pack. Enjoy and happy cooking!
Chris’s Thai seafood salad
What you need:
300g of mixed seafood: prawns, mussels, scallops, crab and squid — you can use any of your favorite seafood’s
1 packet of vermicelli noodles — blanched in boiling hot water and refreshed in cold water
1 red pepper sliced in fine strips
1 green pepper sliced in fine strips
Handful of snowpeas (mangetout) blanched
1 cucumber finely sliced
½ bunch of fresh coriander
1 red onion finely sliced
2 ripe tomatoes cut in ¼s
1 bunch of spring onions
1 hand full of roasted peanuts
Dressing
4 tblsp of fish sauce
Juice of one lime
1 small fresh chili, seeds removed and chopped finely
1 tbsp of palm sugar
3 stalks of lemon grass
What to do:
For the dressing, combine all the dressing ingredients and adjust the flavour so it has a nice balance of sweet and sour.
Looking for an easy to swallow combination.
Then take a large mixing bowl and throw in the seafood, noodles and vegetables, but not the peanuts.
Give the ingredients a good mix before adding the dressing.
Add half the dressing and mix well. Place the noodle mixture in your serving bowl and drizzle the remaining dressing over the noodles and sprinkle the roasted peanuts around to finish.
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