Belinda Jeffery’s February favourite is a Thai prawn salad with a fragrant lime dressing, topped with crunchy ginger shreds and perfect for the final month of summer with its balance of spicy, sweet, sharp and hot.
This classic Thai prawn salad is one of the most refreshing things I can think of to eat on a scorching hot day. The dressing has that lovely balance of sweet, sharp and hot flavours that are used such a lot in Thai cooking, and which contrast beautifully with the briny prawns and vibrant salad greens.
I have to confess that this particular dressing is my absolute favourite, and I often double the recipe so I’ve always got some in the fridge, as even a splash adds sparkle and depth to the simplest salad. (By the way, terrific as the palm sugar is in the dressing, if you can’t get hold of it just use soft light-brown sugar instead).
I really like finishing this off with the crunchy ginger shreds, but if you don’t have the time or inclination to do them, rest assured it’s perfectly delicious just as is.
Serves 4
A little light olive oil, for cooking
About ¼ cup (45 g) very finely julienned fresh ginger
16 large cooked king prawns, peeled and de-veined, tails intact
80g roasted, salted macadamias (or cashews or red-skin peanuts), roughly chopped, to garnish
Lime dressing:
150ml freshly squeezed lime juice
150g pale brown palm sugar, pounded in a mortar and pestle or grated
6 coriander roots, chopped
Inner heart of 1 stalk lemon grass, chopped
1 kaffir lime leaf, centre vein removed and leaf finely chopped
3 teaspoons finely chopped fresh ginger
1 ½-2 tablespoons fish sauce, or more to taste
Salad:
½ medium-sized green pawpaw, halved and seeded (or use 1 very large green mango instead)
1 large Lebanese cucumber (approx. 250g) peeled and halved lengthways
100g bean shoots
2 spring onions, finely sliced on the diagonal
1 small red chilli, finely chopped
1 handful washed and dried coriander leaves
1 handful washed and dried mint leaves
A dozen or so Vietnamese mint leaves, optional
To make the lime dressing, bring the lime juice to the boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Turn off the heat and add the palm sugar, stirring until the sugar dissolves. (If it doesn’t dissolve completely, just sit the pan over gentle heat again until it does).
In the meantime, put the coriander roots, chopped lemongrass, kaffir lime leaf and ginger in a mortar and pestle and pound them to make a rubbly paste. (If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, chop the ingredients very finely and mix them together). Stir the paste into the lime juice mixture along with the fish sauce. Taste the dressing and adjust the flavours, adding a bit more fish sauce if necessary to get a good sweet, sour, salty balance. Let everything infuse for one hour, then strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl or wide-mouthed jar, pressing down firmly on the solids to extract as much flavour as possible. Cover the dressing tightly and pop it in the fridge. (If you want to make this ahead of time, it keeps well for 3-4 weeks.)
To make the salad, peel and slice the pawpaw (or mango) into fine julienne strips (it can be shredded in a food processor if you have a shredding blade) and put them in a large bowl. Use the point of a teaspoon to scoop the seeds out of the cucumber halves, then slice them into thin crescents and add them to the bowl along with the bean shoots, spring onions, chilli, coriander leaves, mint leaves, and Vietnamese mint leaves, if using. Cover the bowl tightly and put it in the fridge.
Heat a little oil (it needs to be about 8mm deep) in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once it’s hot, add the julienned ginger and cook it, stirring regularly with a fork, for about 2 minutes or until it’s crisp and golden. Remove the pan from the heat and scoop the shreds onto paper towel to drain. You can strain the leftover oil which, with its gentle ginger flavour, is lovely for stir-frying.
To serve, toss the pawpaw salad with a liberal amount of dressing so it’s well dressed. Layer the salad and prawns in individual bowls so they look really pretty, then drizzle a bit more dressing over the top. Finish off with a sprinkle of nuts and ginger shreds.
