Thai salad: From mildly spicy to burning hot 

Salads play an integral part of any Thai meal and in Thailand, the fruit salad is typically served with the main course and serves as a cooler to counter act the fiery heat of the Thai curry.   Salads are typically served because they act as the “fresh” component of a well-balanced meal. This is a colourful and elegant salad and makes a fabulous party dish. All the ingredients are available locally and your guests will be most impressed with your presentation and the taste.

There are hundreds of variations of Thai salads, but, they can all be grouped into four categories: yam, tam, laab, and pla. While these different styles of salads share many ingredients, they each have defining characteristics, especially in terms of culinary technique.

The four key ingredients of Thai salad dressing:

Fish sauce: I cannot think of a Thai salad that does not incorporate fish sauce. It is the main seasoning element that lends saltiness and umami to the dish. Because fish sauce plays such a prominent role in Thai salad, ideally speaking it is important to use a high quality product, such as fish sauce produced by the brands Red Boat, Squid, or Three Crabs. Unfortunately, there is no great variety obtainable in Uganda and you will have to make do with Swiss Garden which is widely available and does the job. 

Lime juice: Thai salad usually features fresh lime juice which causes the salad to become sour.

Sugar: With  some exceptions, most Thai salads are sweetened with sugar to help balance the salinity and acidity of the dressing.

Chiles: Thai salad can range from mildly spicy to burning hot, but every Thai salad has at least some chili heat. Both fresh and dried chilies are used, resulting in a sharp capsaicin bite or a more subdued, slow-building background heat, depending on the type of salad.

Method

1.            To make the dipping sauce, place the coconut cream, sugar and boiling water in a screw top jar. Add the chili sauce, fish sauce and lime juice and shake to mix and set aside.

2.            Trim both ends of the pineapple with a serrated knife and then cut away the skin. Remove the middle core with an apple corer, or cut the pineapple into four down the middle and remove the core with a knife. Roughly chop the pineapple and set aside with the other fruits.

3.            Bring a small saucepan of lightly salted water to the boil and cook the French beans for  three to four  minutes. When done, refresh under cold running water and set aside. When you are ready to serve, arrange the fruits, vegetables and lettuce leaves in individual heaps in a serving bowl and serve the dipping sauce separately.

Remember that there are a myriad of different Thai salads such as bamboo shoot salad, green vegetable salad with coconut mint dip, hot coconut prawn and pawpaw salad, aubergine salad with dried shrimps and egg. If you have never made a Thai salad before, my suggestion is that you start out with this classic Thai fruit and vegetable salad and feel free to experiment with other Thai salads and always bear in mind that Thai salads are not meant to be served on their own so for the full experience, make a rice or noodle dish as well as a curry. 

The ramboutans or rambutan, cousin to the lychee originated in Malaysia. Nevertheless, it is nowadays cultivated in much of South-east Asia as well as the US and certain parts of Europe. It has a dark reddish-brown, hairy skin with sweet, translucent flesh and the stone is edible. It is about 5cm/2 inch in diameter.

Ingredients

Thai fruit and vegetable  salad

Ingredients

Serves 4 – 6

1 small pineapple

1 medium mango, stoned and sliced

1 green apple, cored and sliced

6 ramboutans or lychees, peeled and stoned. I doubt whether you will be able to obtain fresh lychees but certainly canned are available from the Chinese supermarkets.

120g/4 oz. French beans, halved

1 large red onion, sliced

1 medium cucumber, cut into short sticks

120g/4 oz. beansprouts

4 spring onions, sliced

2 ripe tomatoes, quartered

225g/8 oz. cos, Bibb or iceberg lettuce leaves, torn into pieces

Salt and pepper to taste

For the coconut dipping sauce

100ml/6 tbsp coconut cream

30ml/2 tbsp sugar

75ml/5 tbsp boiling water

1.5ml/1/2 tsp chili sauce

1.5ml/1 tbsp fish sauce

Juice of I large lime