Serves: 2-3 - Time:
If ever I had to choose one dish to eat for the rest of my life it might be this. Based on the Thai dish Yam Som-O, I have added some prawns to make it a more substantial meal and cheated with ready-made crispy onions so the whole thing is incredibly easy to prepare. You could even buy cooked prawns although I think freshly cooked ones take on the flavours of the sauce. Pomelos aren’t all that common but they turn up in the weirdest shops. I can often find them in my local Lidl and the one for this recipe was provided by an East Lothian branch of Tesco-which is not usually known for its range of unusual fruit and vegetables. I don’t think grapefruit makes a good alternative-they are too juicy and floppy-the salad turns into a bit of a soggy mess so do try and search out pomelos.
Ingredients
- For the dressing
- Juice of 2 limes
- ½ tablespoon Thai fish sauce
- 1 ½ tablespoons palm sugar –or soft brown sugar
- 1 small garlic clove, peeled and crushed
- 1 small birds eye chilli (red or green)
- For the salad
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 225g large raw, peeled prawns
- 1 pomelo
- 1 gem lettuce, shredded
- 3 tablespoons crispy onions
- 50g salted roasted peanuts, roughly chopped
- Small handful of basil leaves, torn
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped coriander
- 20g desiccated coconut, lightly toasted in a hot oven for 6-7 minutes
Method
- Put the lime juice, fish sauce and sugar in a small saucepan and heat through, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Pour into a mixing bowl. Cool and stir in the garlic and chilli.
- For the salad, heat the oil in a frying pan and add the prawns. Cook, stirring for 2-3 minutes until the prawns are pink and cooked through. Cool a little and add to the dressing. Leave the prawns to cool completely.
- To prepare the pomelo, cut off the ends and stand the pomelo on one end. Cut down the sides to remove as much peel and white pith as possible. Then cut in between each segment and lift out the flesh. Add to the prawns. Add the shredded lettuce, onions and peanuts and toss together. Turn into a serving dish and sprinkle over the basil and coriander and dust with the toasted coconut. Serve immediately.
