Vietnamese Prawn Salad – with video
Please scroll down for text-to-speech version of video.
Ah – Vietnam! I get misty eyed when thinking about the countries I’ve visited; when long haul holidays are possible again, Vietnam is definitely on the list of places to return to. We visited in 2014 and the food was a revelation – full of herbs and freshness and zing. I always travel with a notebook to jot down what I’ve eaten and attempt to recreate the food when I’m back in Huddersfield. This one’s a take on a juicy prawn salad that I ate in the sunshine with an ice-cold beer. One day, I’ll be back…
Serves 2 (or 4 for a light meal, but we’re greedy so it served two of us)
For the pink onions:
- ½ small red onion
- 2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon sugar
For the salad dressing:
- Zest and juice of one lime
- 1½ tablespoon
- nam pla (fish sauce)
- 1 tablespoon white rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon caster sugar
- 1 red chilli, finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic, grated
For the salad:
- 2 little gem lettuces, chopped
- 1 carrot, grated
- 150g beansprouts
- 100g small tomatoes, cut into pieces
- 250g king prawns
- 20g fresh mint
- 10g fresh basil
A few hours before you make the salad, start marinating the pink onions. Slice the red onion thinly, then place in a small bowl and add the red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, salt and sugar. Mix and leave to marinate for a few hours – the onions will slowly turn into a nice vivid pink.
To make the salad dressing, mix all the ingredients until the sugar is dissolved.
Mix the salad ingredients together in a bowl, then drizzle over the dressing. Add the prawns and toss it all together, before draping the bright pink onions over the salad.
