Were you amazed by all the flavors going on in a "salad" when first having a Thai seafood salad? Sweet, sour, spicy, and savory, so many good things happening in that one single serving, converting you to become a salad lover, no longer treating a plate of cold veggies as a boring, healthy-oriented only dish.
With all that seasonings going on, one might think that Thai salad can be hard to recreate at home. Well, it's true that getting all the Asian ingredients can be a hassle, but once you've already stock all the necessities, actually putting together the salad can be done fairly quickly. The best part is that you can even prep the dressing and the ingredients first, then put together when the party is about to start, making quite an impression on your guests.
Thai seafood salad -
Ingredients?
- 170 grams shrimps (peeled, deveined)
- 190 grams squid
- 1 stalk scallion
- 1/4 purple onion
- 2 to 3 red chilies (preferably bird's eye chili)
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 fresh kaffir lime leaves (can be substitute with dried version)
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh lemongrass
- 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- 2 tablespoons chopped shallots
- 2 tablespoons chopped mint
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon Thai chili paste nam prik pao (can be substitute with Thai sweet chili sauce)
- 1 teaspoon palm sugar
How?
Peel and devein the shrimps. Cut the squid into rings or smaller chunks. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil and transfer the shrimps and squid over for a quick dip. Wait till fully cooked through, should be fast, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Don't even bother to lower the heat with such fast cooking time. Once ready, drain and set aside to cool down.
Peel and thinly slice the onion. Peel and chop the garlic cloves. Destem and finely chop the red chilies. Peel and finely chop the shallots. Chop the mint, lemongrass, and kaffir lime leaves. Squeeze some fresh lime juice.
Use a big mixing bowl, add in the lime juice, fish sauce, chili sauce, and sugar, mix till incorporated.
Mix in all the other prepped ingredients, also cooked shrimps and squid towards the end. Taste and see if need more seasonings per your own preference. Toss and serve.
I only used shrimps and squid here, but there are variations. Fish chunks, mussels, even crab lumps can be added to Thai seafood salad.
When writing up this recipe, I came to an idea that perhaps I should at least try to understand the true, authentic name of Thai seafood salad, in Thai script. So I googled it, something like this showed up "ยำทะเลไทย," and it supposed to mean Thai seafood salad?
Well, well, that's really something I cannot understand at all, not even a bit. People always say that Chinese is the most difficult language to learn, but since I grew up with it, from my perspective, Thai script is like artsy drawings from another world. As for now, I'll put the Thai script aside, and continue to learn more about Thai culture through food, in a much more relaxed and appetizing way.
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