Summer salad recipe: How to make Colm O'Gorman's spicy Thai king prawn salad

Spicy Thai king prawn salad.

Spicy Thai King Prawn Salad

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

This quick and easy recipe serves four people as a main, or six as a starter.

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 15 mins

Cooking Time

 5 mins

Total Time

 20 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• For the dressing:

• 2 cloves of garlic

• 15g fresh ginger

• 1-2 red chillies

• 15g fresh coriander

• 6 large basil leaves

• 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil

• 2 tsp brown sugar or honey

• 30ml fish sauce

• 1 tsp soy sauce

• 1 tbsp smooth peanut butter

• Juice of 3 limes

• Zest of 1 lime

• For the Salad:

• 400g raw king prawns

• 100g asparagus spears

• 150g sugar snap peas

• 1 tbsp sesame oil

• 1-2 heads little gem lettuce

• 200g cherry tomatoes

• 1 red pepper

• 3 spring onions

• Handful fresh coriander

• Handful fresh mint

• To serve:

• Chopped roasted peanuts

• A few small sprigs of fresh mint

• Some finely sliced red chilli

Method

1. Peel and roughly chop the garlic and ginger for the salad dressing. Wash and roughly chop the chillies, retaining the seed and pith if you want some heat. Wash the herbs and put the garlic, ginger, coriander, basil, and chilli in a food processor along with a tablespoon of toasted sesame oil and blitz to a smooth paste.

2. Transfer the paste to a bowl and add the remaining ingredients for the dressing. Whisk until well combined. Taste the dressing and add more lime, sugar, or soy sauce to taste. Once it is to your liking, set it aside until you are ready to assemble the salad.

3. Rinse the salad vegetables and herbs under a cold tap. Slice the head of lettuce into 2cm wide strips. Roughly chop the coriander and slice the mint a little more finely. Cut the tomatoes into half or thirds depending upon their size. Cut the sugar snap peas into halves, and the asparagus into approximately 3cm lengths. Deseed and chop the red pepper into similar sized pieces.

4. Heat a wok or a large non-stick frying pan over a high heat. Add a tablespoon of sesame oil, the sugar snap peas, asparagus, and the king prawns. Stir fry for three to four minutes until the prawns are pink and cooked through. This salad should be served warm, so remove the wok from the heat and set aside to cool for about five minutes.

5. Time now to assemble the salad. Put the lettuce, tomatoes, red pepper, chopped herbs and the spring onions into a large bowl. Add the prawns and the stir-fried vegetables. Next, pour over the dressing and toss the salad thoroughly.

6. Finish with a sprinkle of chopped roasted peanuts, some small sprigs of fresh mint and some thinly sliced fresh red chilli. You can either serve the salad in individual portions or in a large serving bowl and just let everyone help themselves.