Thai Green Salad
This salad has all the fresh flavors of Thai cuisine, with dressing that compliments it as well. After a lot of experimenting with flavor and heat (he likes it mild, I prefer some spice/heat), we found a version of a Thai inspired salad we are happy to share. It’s easy, and has ingredients that most grocers carry without having to find a specialty store. Best of all, it’s super fresh and healthy with lots of good greens and herbs.
As with every great, fresh salad it starts with the chopping. Here slice the onions and herbs on an angle. The onions are a bit of a “julienned” cut, which is a classic French cut like matchsticks use on vegetables. The herbs, mint and basil, are cut “chiffonade” style, which is used for leafy herbs and greens. It, again is cut into thin strips on an angle. The cucumber can be julienned just like the green onions, but on this day we used a peeler and made “ribbons” of the cucumber.
It all tastes the same, just a different way of slicing and dicing.
Then the nuts can just be rough chopped, no special technique needed!
Toss the chopped nuts onto the salad.
Time to make the salad dressing. Depending on the type of heat preferred, dice up to 1/2 of a jalapeno finely.
In an airtight jar add all of the ingredients for the dressing. Give it a good shake, then taste for correctness. Add red pepper flakes or more jalapeno if more heat is desired.
That’s it! The salad is ready. Just pour the dressing over and serve.
On this night we served with our Thai Short Ribs (recipe to follow soon) and simple jasmine rice. It was so delicious, with all the flavors of Thai food we love.
Make the Salad the Main Dish
In another version of this same salad, we added, julienned carrots and one ear of grilled corn. Then we double the salad dressing recipe and marinated a dozen shrimp in 1/2 the dressing for 30 minutes. We then grilled shrimp and served on top of the salad, making it a meal!
Thai Green Salad
Ingredients
- 4 cups Romaine (or mixed greens)
- 1/2 Cucumber, peeled into ribbons with a vegetable peeler or simply cut into rounds
- 2 Green onions, julienned into 1/2 inch slices
- 4-5 Fresh mint leaves, sliced thin
- 1 tablespoon Cilantro, rough chopped
- 3-4 Fresh basil leaves, chiffonade
- Chopped cashews or peanuts
- 1/2 of one Jalapeno, seeds removed and finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce
- 2 teaspoons lime juice
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- Red pepper flakes (optional)
Instructions
- In a large shallow bowl place the greens. Add the herbs and green onions.
- Top with the cucumber ribbons, then the nuts. Set aside.
- Make the dressing by placing all the ingredients into a jar or salad shaker. Shake vigorously to mix. Taste for flavor. Add more jalapeno or red pepper flakes if additional heat is desired.
- As a variation, add julienned carrots, grilled corn cut off the ear or a protein (grilled shrimp or chicken strips). Enjoy!
