Hey guys, I’ve been meaning to post this for eons now, but one thing or the other always gets into the way of doing that. There are so many things I wanted to tell you. I wanted to tell you about how I had a massive fall, injured myself really badly and was incapacitated for over two weeks. I wanted to tell you how I dragged myself to Portland for a weekend even before I was fully recovered. I wanted to tell you how I couldn’t get out of the car at Multnomah Falls or walk around downtown or even stroll at Powell’s bookstore, because hello, I could barely walk! I wanted to tell you about the amazing people I met there, including two kids with the most pinchable cheeks ever! I wanted to tell you about the nights of chatter and banter that we had – all 14 of us huddled in an AirBnB – that reminded me of good old times when I would take weekend getaways with relatives and cousins to Puri, Digha, Chandipur, Ghatshila and what have you! But most of all I wanted to tell about the amazing, amazing food that I had in Portland. Even though the possibility of food truck hopping was thrown out of the window, I did have some mindblowing Peruvian, Lebanese and Thai food and who can miss Stumptown Coffee, Salt n Straw ice creams and Blue Star donuts while in Portland?
We had this awesome Papaya salad at the famous Pok Pok that stayed with me even after I was back home. This Thai Shrimp Salad with Apples and Brussels sprouts is not even close to that salad in terms of ingredients, but I’ve tried to borrow the flavor profile and lend it to this salad. It’s nowhere close to authentic, I just tried recollecting the taste and throwing things together to reach that end. It’s a different story altogether that I had the original recipe at my disposal, in the book Pok Pok sitting pretty on my bookcase. But it was a long limp from the kitchen and certainly not something I was up for with an injured leg!
Thai Shrimp Salad with Apples and Brussels Sprouts
Print
Ingredients
- Shrimp, cleaned and deveined: 350 gm
- Brussels sprouts, shredded: 1 cup (9-10 pieces)
- Apple, shredded: 2 (I used medium-sized honeycrisp)
- Salad greens: 2 cups (I used a mixture of baby spinach, baby arugula and lettuce)
- Fish sauce: 2 tbsp
- Rice vinegar: 2 tbsp
- Fresh lime juice: 3 tbsp
- Sugar: 1.5 tbsp
- Thai red chilli, chopped: 2
- Coriander/cilantro leaves, chopped: 4 tbsp
- Peanuts: 4 tbsp (preferable roasted and slightly salted)
- Chicken stock: 2-3 cups (or enough to boil the shrimps) (you can totally use water to boil the shrimp also, the stock just gives it a little more flavor)
METHOD
- In a deep-bottomed pan, heat the chicken stock (add a tiny pinch of salt if the stock is unsalted). When it’s on the verge of coming to a boil, add the shrimps and let them cook for 3-4 minutes or till opaque. Drain and set aside.
- In a bowl, mix the fish sauce, vinegar, lime juice, sugar and chopped chillies paste until the sugar is dissolved. Set the dressing aside.
- Now, in your serving bowls, cover the base with the salad greens. Sprinkle a little dressing on it. Follow it up with a layer of shredded brussels sprouts and apples. Sprinkle some more dressing on it. Finally arrange the boiled shrimps as the topmost layer of the salad. Top with roasted peanuts, chopped coriander and the remaining dressing (hold back on the dressing if you think it’s getting too salty for you.)
- Scoop up this super healthy but incredibly tasty salad!
