In the summer I make a big bowl of this scrumptious savoury salad with a dressing based on Thai flavours. It's a perfect balance that hits all your taste buds: the garlicky saltiness is delicious, the sesame oil adds an extra dimension, the lime juice cuts through and the chilli seeds add a little kick.
The salad ingredients below are a guide. Choose from the following. Experiment. You could add pomegranite seeds, dandelion leaves, or sliced spring onions. But don't use fennel or celery as they will clash with the flavours of the dressing.
SALAD ingredients
Romaine lettuce leaves, torn into thirds
Green and red peppers, sliced lengthways
Handful of coriander leaves
Handful of mint leaves
1 firm mango cut into batons
1 medium red onion sliced into rings
6-8 plum or cherry tomatoes, halved lengthways
6-8 radishes, thinly sliced
2 medium carrot cut into 1/2cm batons or coarsely grated
Nasturtium leaves
To top
Nasturtium flowers for decoration (edible and peppery)
Sunflower seeds
Sesame seeds
Torn nori seaweed
DRESSING ingredients
½ teaspoon English mustard or mustard powder
1 or 2 fat garlic cloves, crushed
1 dessertspoon olive oil
½ dessertspoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon brown sugar or honey
Juice of 3 or 4 limes
¼ cup fish sauce (very salty)
½ teaspoon low sodium salt
½ tsp crushed chilli seeds
For the dressing, mix all together. If you are using a mango, soak the mango batons in the dressing while you make the salad.
Mix the leaves and batons together in a large serving bowl. Just before serving, add the dressing (with the mango batons) and toss.
Top with the seeds, nasturtium flowers and torn nori.
Serve with some sort of protein: prawns, seafood, crispy bacon, seared salmon, tofu, falafel, cold cuts or shredded chicken and so on.
