Dublin Cookery School shows us how to make a tasty Vietnamese prawn salad with lemongrass, red cabbage and spring onion.
Ingredients
Serves: 2 as a starter
Marinade:
- 6 large tiger prawns (peeled and deveined)
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 large stalk lemongrass, white part only, finely chopped
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tbsp peanut oil
- ½ tbsp oyster sauce
- ½ tsp fish sauce
- Juice of ½ a lime
- 5g or a small handful coriander stalks
Dressing:
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled
- 1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped
- 1 ½ tbsp caster sugar
- 3 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tbsp lime juice
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp water
Salad:
- 225g red cabbage, shredded
- ½ of a carrot, finely julienned
- 120g cucumber, sliced in thin long ribbons
- 1 large handful mint leaves
- 1 large handful coriander
- 3 spring onions, finely sliced
- 4 tbsp roughly chopped cashews
- 4 radish, thinly sliced
Method
Marinade:
- Use a mortar and pestle to pound the garlic, lemon grass and salt into a paste. If you don’t have one, then blend in a small food processor or chop as finely as possible. Add the remaining ingredients.
- Pour over the prawns and marinate in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
Dressing:
- Using a mortar and pestle, pound the garlic and chilli together. Add the sugar and stir in the liquids. You can use a food processor to make this dressing as well.
Salad:
- Toss the salad ingredients together gently, adding enough dressing to taste.
Prawns:
- Heat a small frying pan. Take the prawns out of the marinade and cook for 2 minutes per side in a little oil until they just turn pink. Alternatively, cook on each side on a griddle pan.
- Plate the salad onto two plates, with the warm prawns on top. Serve with a little more dressing over the prawns and a wedge of lime.
