[CH] Hot Spread & Seafood Salad Recipe
Shantihhh@aol.com
Tue, 20 Mar 2001 11:51:41 EST
Our favorite hot spread is Nam Phrik Pao Hot Taste. It is from Thailand and
makes the greatest spread for anything from crackers to bread. It's also a
wonderful ingredient in salad dressings.
Here is a perfectly balanced salad from my friend Kasma's book, Dancing
Shrimp. I have made it with calamari rings and also a shellfish melange of
shrimp, calamari, mussels, and squid rings. All are excellent. I garnish
with Thai Dragon Chile flowers. You know where you slit the chiles
lengthwise but not detaching from the stem. Place them into ice water for
15-20 minutes and they curl into glowers-great garnish and it works with most
chiles, at lease all thin walled ones I have tried! I always at least double
the recipe for our family.
Mary-Anne
Hot and Sour Prawn Salad
Plah Gkung
A Recipe of Kasma Loha-unchit (http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com) many
other recipes!!!!!!
Recipe Copyright © 2000 Kasma Loha-unchit.
Ingredients
* 1/2 lb. medium-size shrimp
* 4-6 Thai chillies, cut into thin rounds
* 1 1/2 - 2 tsp. roasted chilli paste (nahm prik pow)
* 1-2 Tbs. fish sauce (nahm bplah), to taste
* 1 1/2 - 2 Tbs. lime juice, to taste
* 1-2 tsp. granulated sugar, to taste
* 1 stalk lemon grass
* 1 shallot, halved lengthwise and sliced thinly crosswise
* 1-2 Tbs. coarsely chopped cilantro, sawleaf coriander, or parsley
* 3-4 Tbs. coarsely chopped mint leaves
* 3 cups boiling water
Shell, devein and butterfly the shrimp. Give it a saltwater bath to freshen.
(See below.) Then rinse thoroughly with plenty of water and drain.
Mix the Thai chillies with the roasted chilli paste, fish sauce, lime juice
and sugar. Taste and adjust to the desired hot, sour, sweet and salty
combination. The sauce should be intense in all respects.
Trim off and discard the woody bottom tip of the lemon grass and 2-3 of the
loose, fibrous outer layers. Slice stalk from the bottom end into very thin
rounds, to yield roughly 3 Tbs. Place in a mixing bowl with the sliced
shallots, coarsely chopped cilantro and mint leaves.
Blanch the shrimp in boiling water for 20 seconds, or until they turn pink on
the outside but are not completely cooked through. Drain. The shrimp will be
further cooked by the lime juice in the sauce.
Toss the shrimp while still warm with the herbs and the chilli-lime sauce.
Stir well to coat the shrimp. Transfer to a serving plate and garnish with
mint sprigs.
Saltwater Bath for Shrimp:
Place them in a bowl and add sea salt and water to barely cover. For each
pound, use one generous teaspoon of sea salt and half a cup of water. Mix
with your hand for a few seconds to dissolve the salt and gently massage the
shrimp. Set aside for five to ten minutes. The water will quickly turn grey
and murky. Then rinse thoroughly in plenty of cool water to remove all the
salt. Drain well. For stir-fried dishes, make sure they are not wet when you
are ready to cook; if they are, pat dry with a clean towel.
Soaking the shrimp in their own element -- sea salted water -- helps perk
them up, giving them a fresher smell, and when cooked, a crisp, succulent
texture. Some that really have been dehydrated by prolonged freezing may even
grow in size.
Notes and Pointers:
Hot-and-sour salads lie at the heart of Thai cuisine. There are so many
different ways to make them, and even though they are essentially hot with
chillies and sour with lime juice, the balance of flavor can be such that
each is distinctly unique. In this book, I have included several of these
spicy and limy salads -- from fish to crustaceans to mollusks.
In this recipe, the sauce combines a subtle roasted dimension from the
roasted chilli paste with the heat of fresh chillies and the sharp sour of
lime juice. Undercooking the shrimp helps them retain their natural sweetness
and gives them a tender, moist texture. For a special, refreshing touch,
slice a sour tangerine and toss in with the shrimp, herbs and sauce.
For a variation using jumbo-size prawns: butterfly the prawns in their shell
and grill over hot coals until they turn pink, are slightly charred but a
little undercooked. Arrange on a serving platter. Toss the herbs with the
sauce and spread on top of the grilled prawns. Likewise, the seasoned herbs
can be used on grilled lobster.
Try this recipe also with squid, scallops, shelled mussels and clams and firm
fish, or a combination of seafood. It is delicious with sea bass.
Recipe is Copyright © 2000 Kasma Loha-unchit in Dancing Shrimp
This recipe is found on pages 184 to 185 of Dancing Shrimp: Favorite Thai
Recipes for Seafood by Kasma Loha-unchit. Published by Simon & Schuster,
2000.