Thai King prawn salad

Thai king prawn Salad

 

Simple but very delicious Thai salad recipe. Marinated in red curry paste then roasted to bring out the full flavour of the prawns. Works extremely well with a fresh pineapple Thai salad with tamarind dressing. Easy to make and a pleasure to eat.

Whats needed

For the prawns

6 large shell on, head on Madagascan King tiger prawns 

A small jar of red curry paste

 

For the salad dressing

2 limes

2 teaspoons of tamarind concentrate

2 tablespoons fish sauce

1 teaspoon of shrimp paste

1 tablespoon of brown sugar (palm sugar if you have it)

2 red bird eye chillies

For the salad

A small fresh pineapple

5-6 cherry tomatoes

1-2 round tomatoes

1 small red onion

2-3 spring onions

1 orange pepper

1 stick celery

1/3 fresh cucumber

1 large red chilli

1-2 nests of rice noodles

Fresh coriander

Fresh mint

Fresh Thai basil

 

 

Preparation

Preparation is in three stages:

 

Marinating the prawns

1. Prepare the prawns using a sharp knife cut a slit from the head of the prawn down to its tail. Make sure you leave the prawn in its shell (for flavour on cooking), devein the prawns and set aside in a large glass bowl.
2. Using a jar of red curry paste cover the prawns and leave to marinate for 1-2 hours. I use shop bought paste here to save on time. If you wish you could make your own red curry paste although I do not think this is necessary for this recipe.

The salad dressing

1. Firstly thinly slice the two red bird eye chillies. Add these to a mortar and pestle.
2. Add the juice of two limes. Roll the limes first to make sure you extract all the juice.
3. Add 1 tablespoon of brown sugar. Stir or grind to dissolve fully.
4. Next add 2 tablespoons of fish sauce, 2 teaspoons of tamarind concentrate and 1 teaspoon of shrimp paste. Stir or grind to dissolve.
5. Leave aside in fridge until time to serve. Remember to re stir/grind before serving as some of the sugar may settle upon chilling.

The salad itself

1. Firstly soak/cook 1-2 nests of thin rice noodles as per instructions on packet.
2. Whilst this is happening prepare and chop into bite sized chunks the pepper, pineapple, red onion, spring onions, celery and tomatoes. Add these to a large salad bowl.
3. Deseed the cucumber, cut into thin crescents  and pat dry using paper towel. Add to the bowl.
4. Chop the red chilli thinly and add to the bowl.
5. Once the rice noodles are cooked, drain and rinse in cold water to chill them. Once fully drained and cooled add to the salad bowl.
6. Chop a good handful of each of the three herbs- mint, coriander and Thai basil. Add on top of the prepared salad but do not mix through yet.
7. Leave the salad aside in the fridge until ready to serve.

 

 

 

 

Get cooking

1. Pre heat the oven to 150 Celsius (fan oven). Add the prawns to a large casserole dish and roast them for 15 minutes. Once cooked remove from oven and set aside.
2. Give the salad dressing a good stir/grind and then pour the dressing over the noodle salad. Using your hands give the salad a really good mix ensuring the dressing is through everything. 
3. Now it is time to serve as shown below. A dusting of some chopped peanuts  finishes the dish off nicely.