With some handy kitchen tools it doesn’t take long to make this easy asian style salad with prawns and a spicy dressing. And once you prepare all the ingredients, it’s a breeze to put together. Using a julienne peeler to prepare the carrots and cucumber saves time, a knife takes more effort and you might end up crunching on thicker strips of vegetables if your knife skills are a bit rusty. When cutting the onion, slice thinly and if you happen to have a mandoline, slice using the thinnest setting. If I want to prepare the vegetables in advance, I store the prepared vegetables in my handy vegetable keeper like this one ( 2 to 3 hours), I find the julienned vegetables stay firm and crunchy until needed.
When making the spicy dressing adjust the quantity of ingredients to suit your taste. We like it a little sour and quite spicy… you might like it sweeter and not so spicy. You can also make the dressing well in advance and store covered in the refrigerator until needed. Keeping a small jar of toasted sesame seeds in the refrigerator saves having to toast them each time you need some. Prawns are quick to cook, so either poach or grill them.
I also make this asian style salad with grilled chicken. You can watch how I’ve prepared this recipe with grilled chicken on a video I posted last year, although I never got round to posting a photograph of the finished dish, you can see the results at the end of the video. So whether you prefer prawns or grilled chicken… its quick to make, light and refreshing with spicy asian flavours.
Asian Style Salad with Prawns and Spicy Dressing
(Serves 4)
Ingredients:
300g large cooked prawns
For the Salad Dressing:
2 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon grape seed oil
1 and 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 large chopped red chilli or 2 small red chilli
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
For the Salad:
2 large carrots, peeled
4 medium cucumber
2 small red onion, peeled
1/2 cup of fresh mint leaves
For Garnish:
handful of fresh coriander leaves
1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted
How to make:
In a small bowl add the brown sugar, lime juice, rice vinegar, oil, fish sauce, chilli and garlic. Mix all the ingredients together. Taste and adjust if necessary.
Using a julienne peeler, prepare the carrots and cucumber. Use a knife or mandoline to thinly slice the onion.
Place the carrots, cucumber onion and mint leaves into a large bowl. Add a few tablespoons of dressing over the salad, toss gently to lightly coat the ingredients.
Divide the salad into individual serving bowls and top with cooked prawns. Drizzle over a little more dressing and scatter over some coriander leaves and sesame seeds. Serve immediately.
Food and Tools 
Hiya Moya, Checked out your video – well done!! Salad looks lovely. Perfect for our, soon to be here, summer.
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Thanks Glenda I was pretty nervous doing that video as I was really stepping out of my comfort zone. Yes I am sure you are look forward to warmer weather, we are the opposite, looking forward to cooler weather after a particularly hot and humid summer 🙂
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Hi Moya, Just had your salad for dinner. Very nice indeed.
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Glad you liked the recipe Glenda and I just made your Mum’s pumpkin fruit cake… which we love 🙂
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Exquisite, Moya! Just wonderful! xx
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Thanks Lizzy, sometimes simple food and flavors are all you need 🙂
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Looks so good. The Asian style dressing seems interesting. Once I am off my diet, I will make this.
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This is an ok dish to make if you are watching the calories and easy to make, especially if you have the julienne peeler. Hope you give the recipe a try Anita 🙂
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