This Thai Prawn Salad makes a beautifully refreshing starter for a dinner party, or a generous main on a hot Summer’s day. I love to serve it as a share platter where everyone can help themselves. I serve it with lettuce cups and crispy wonton wrappers for varying textures and wedges of fresh lime for a final citrusy kick. This is most definitely a crowd favourite!
The key to this Thai Prawn Salad is ensuring that everything is very finely chopped. That way all of the flavours will meld together and you won’t get a mouthful of raw garlic etc. I make this recipe ahead, cover and keep in the fridge. The raw flavours will ‘cook’ in the dressing.
Prep time: 30 Minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes for the wontons
$$ Medium Budget
Serves 4 as a generous starter
For the Thai Prawn Salad:
1.2kg of fresh Australian Tiger prawns, peeled and chopped into small pieces
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1 tsp of grated ginger
1 small red onion, very finely diced
2 Kaffir lime leaves, centre vein removed, rolled and very finely chopped
1 long red chilli, deseeded and very finely chopped
2 tbs of finely chopped coriander
1 tbs of finely chopped mint
1 tbs of finely chopped Vietnamese mint or Thai basil (if you can’t get either of these, it will still be delicious)
2 tbs of fish sauce
1 tbs of light soy sauce
1 tbs of caster sugar
The juice of 1 lime
1 tbs of roasted unsalted peanuts, roughly chopped
Micro Herbs or coriander leaves to garnish
12 wonton wrappers
Oil for frying
1 baby cos heart, bottom removed, washed and split apart
Lime wedges to serve
In a large bowl, combine the fish sauce, soy sauce, caster sugar & lime juice and whisk until the sugar has dissolved. Add the prawns, onion, garlic, ginger, chilli, lime leaves & herbs and toss really well to combine. Spoon into a serving bowl and sprinkle with the peanuts and garnish of your choice. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
To prepare the wontons, heat about 2cm of vegetable or peanut oil in a medium sized saucepan. When the oil is really hot, fry the wonton wrappers on each side until golden and crispy. They only take about 20-30 seconds. Drain on paper towel and serve along side the Thai Prawn Salad & Cos Lettuce cups on a large board with wedges of fresh lime.