Close your eyes… listen to the sound of the waves gently pushing up against the shore… smell the faint scent of sun tan lotion… feel the sun caressing your face…!! I sound like some travel company on TV!!!! But this is what I’ve been day dreaming about lately… tropical life… something exotic is needed soon… I just need the sunshine… so that’s why there’s this:
Yes, we always need to make the most of our winter produce, it’s what WE do… and we do it most of the time, however there are some days that call for escape… I needed citrus, colour.. tastes of the orient to just lighten up the grey… so here is the Thai-inspired salad…
It’s all pretty easily accessible… apart from the fish sauce if you dont have it in your store cupboard, suddenly I realized that’s it’s a MUST.– so please go get a bottle and have it on hand… it’s more useful that you imagine…
I kind of like a good wholesome salad for dinner… it has it’s own comfort level about it… especially this one, with the zing of the lime, the deep flavours of the veggies and onions… the crunch of the peanuts and of course red chilli if you’re feeling fiesty! The dressing is so dead simple, it’s a joke!
It may seem a little painstaking to cut these things up finely… most of the time we can’t be bothered which such fuss… but I thin with this salad, it’s all about the visuals… colours and shapes.. they all just GO! You feel so alive and happy just looking at it… it’s what I need right now… munching onthis while going through holiday destinations for I dont know when…one can dream….!
- 1 large mango, it should be hard but with a little give…
- 1/2 red pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 carrot thinly sliced ( I used a potato peeler)
- 1 spring onion, thinly sliced
- 1/2 red onion thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup fresh coriander, chopped
- 1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped, optional
- 1/3 cup peanuts, finely chopped ( I put the peanuts in a zip loch bag and beat then with a rolling pin until fine, but so that you have some larger pieces too)
- 2 limes, zested and juiced
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- Combine all your ingredients for the salad, top with coriander and peanuts.
- Combine all the ingredients for the dressing, including the lime zest. Taste to adjust seasoning.
- If you want to serve the salad in individual bowl, then what I did was, layer the vegetables and mango one by one to give it some height.
- Serve the dressing seperately.
- Make this all ahead and let it sit int he fridge to get nice and cold and crisp!
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