Thai Salad

If you are a salad eater I bet you will never get tired of this and you know what I am talking about. This is a vegan, fresh, crunchy, tasty, trans-fat free sesame oil which is healthy and full of flavour and texture!  A true tropical salad from Thailand, sweet, sour and salty all at the same time-  a perfect blend of flavours  mixed  with raw bean sprout, carrot, cucumber, freshly sliced herbs, chopped chili, peanuts, pineapple, kaffir  lime leaves.

There are countless versions of Thai salad - some versions involve the addition of different cooked meat or freshly cooked prawns, raw papaya, raw mango, yam bean, taufoo. You definitely have got to try this because it is so effortless to make!

For more info you can go to Thai Salads

For 8 person

Rice Vinaigrette Dressing:

400ml rice vinegar

6 lime juice

300g white sugar

250ml fish sauce

100ml sesame oil

3 finely chopped fresh garlic

2 tsp salt

Some freshly ground black pepper

The Salad

Ingredient A:

6 fresh finely chopped red chili

1 rice bowl of chopped toasted peanuts

1 rice bowl of roasted sesame seeds

Ingredient B:

400g of  rice vermicelli (meehun) 

400g of bean sprout

2 shredded carrots 

1 bunch of spring onion, finely chopped (10 medium stalks)

1 bunch of coriander, coarsely chopped (15 medium stalks)

2 plastic bags of thai basil (remove leaves from the stem)

2 plastic bags of laksa leaf(daun kesom)  (remove leaves from the stem)

1 bunch of mint (remove leaves from the stem)

6 pcs of kaffir lime leaves - finely chopped

3 stalks of fresh lemon grass. finely chopped, only the white end part of the plant

 Salt and pepper to taste 

Methods:

1.  Prepare the Rice Vinaigrette Dressing first. Combine and whisk all the ingredients, stir until sugar is dissolved, test for taste and then cover. This has to be sweet enough while being salty and sour with a little bit of spicy chili. For this recipe I prefer it to be sweeter than salty (from the fish sauce, otherwise the flavour is not there! The flavour has to be maximum). Set aside in the fridge.

2.  Prepare ingredient A. Set aside.

3.  To prepare the salad:

Soak the vermicelli in a big bowl of  boiling water for about 5 -10  minutes, or follow instruction on the vermicelli bag. Drain and rinse thoroughly with a pair of thong, gently separate them with cold water. Set it aside to drain while you prepare the salad ingredients.

4.  Wash, drain, dry, shred, cut and chop all the ingredient B  into a big bowl. Add the drained vermicelli and toss gently with a big pair of chopstick or a pair of big thongs, until it is mixed well.

5.  Serve the Thai salad in a bowl (due to the watering effect of the vinaigrette. Top it with roasted chopped peanuts, roasted sesame seeds and preferentially with some chopped chili, coriander and spring onion or nuts. This cannot go wrong, I guarantee you. This will give you such an appetite.  Serve immediately.

Tip: 

You can make this in advance.  In a big bowl, gently combine all ingredients A and B together. Cover with cling wrap, and put it aside in the fridge for several days.  

Add the vinaigrette, sesame seeds and nuts only minutes before serving, otherwise your salad will be too soggy.. This is called "dressing your salad".