← Nouns Cooking · Thai

Ingredients

• 200 g raw prawns, peeled and deveined
• 200 g cleaned squid, tubes scored and cut into pieces
• 100 g mussels or clams, cleaned (optional)
• 3 cloves Garlic
• 4 Bird's eye chilli
• 2½ tbsp Fish sauce
• 3 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp Sugar
• ½ white onion or 2 shallots, thinly sliced
• 1 Tomato, cut into wedges
• 2 celery sticks with leaves (or Chinese celery), sliced
• 2 Spring onion, cut into short lengths
• 1 handful Coriander (cilantro)
• 4 Makrut (kaffir) lime leaves, very finely shredded (optional)
• 1 handful lettuce leaves, to serve (optional)

Method

1. Pound the garlic and chillies to a rough paste, then stir in the fish sauce, lime juice and sugar until dissolved.
2. Bring a pan of water to the boil. Cook the mussels for 2–3 minutes until they open (throw away any that stay shut), the prawns for 1–2 minutes until pink, and the squid for 30–60 seconds, just until it curls and turns white. Overcooked squid turns rubbery, so be quick.
3. Drain the seafood well and tip it, still hot, into a bowl with the dressing.
4. Add the onion, tomato, celery, spring onion, coriander and lime leaves and toss. Taste: it should be very sour, salty and hot. Pile onto lettuce and serve at once.

Tips

• Contains shellfish and molluscs. Scoring the squid in a criss-cross pattern helps the dressing cling.
• Sliced pork or a few strips of grilled chicken can bulk it out into a main course.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Hungry in Thailand ImportFood