Describing this salad in words transforms flavors and texture into language; thus, if you’re not familiar with salad flavor re-layering terms, you can quickly review them here, as this is the foundation for the technique described here.
If you can’t obtain fresh roselle fruits, I suggest that you try to grow some, or substitute them with any sour red fruit (such as cranberries).
This is a wonderful salad that had fallen into obscurity. But, as one of Lady Plean Passakornrawong’s first-ever recipes published in the 1890 edition of the “Bpradtithin Bat Laae Joht Maai Haeht (ประติทินบัตร แล จดหมายเหตุ)” journal, it deserves a resurrection.
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Although it seems to be an extremely simple salad, the range of ingredients and techniques that are used results in an almost cinematic dish – colorful and striking – that is both easy to make and extremely delicious.
Red roselle seed buds (fruits) are mostly used to make red sour drinks or jams, but they can also be deployed in savory dishes such as salads and sour curries. The seed pods have a fruity mild sour taste and a dramatic fire engine-red color.
The highlights of this salad are shrimp acid-cured with lime juice, and a dressing made from the shrimp curing liquids “naam sa uh” (น้ำสะเออะ). The salad’s simple complexity is based on re-seasoning the sour element into a triangle of elements: lime juice, kaffir lime juice and the roselle. Furthermore, the acid curing of the shrimp expands the shrimp presence in the dish; the shrimp is showcased as the main protein and also in dressing. Likewise, due to the gentle acid curing, the shrimp’s natural sweetness turns into a sour-sweet gradient reaching from the cured surface to the semi-raw core.
The shrimp’s inherent delicate sweetness is re-introduced with the sweetness of the onions and the fruity-sweetness of the yellow chilies.
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Ingredients
To acid-cure the shrimp
- 1/2 cup shrimp (กุ้ง) peeled and deveined, cut into bite size pieces
- 3 tablespoons lime juice (น้ำมะนาว)
For the salad
- 1/4 cup roselle seed buds (กระเจี๊ยบแดง) blanched
- 1 tablespoon yellow onion (หอมใหญ่) Dice into small equal-sized cubes
- 1 tablespoon Thai garlic (กระเทียมไทย) peeled and sliced thinly
- 1/2 tablespoon fresh yellow chili (phrik leuang) (พริกเหลือง) cut into small equal-sized squares
- 1 tablespoon coriander leaves (ใบผักชี) soaked in water to freshen
Seasoning:
- 1 part naam sa uh (น้ำสะเออะ) (acid-curing liquids)
- 1 1/2 parts fish sauce (น้ำปลา)
- 1 part granulated sugar (น้ำตาลทราย)
- 1/4 part kaffir lime juice (น้ำมะกรูด)
Instructions
Prepare the shrimp.
- Peel and de-vein the shrimp, removing both the back vein and the white vein running on the inner crescent side of the shrimp.
- Slice the shrimp into small equal-sized pieces.
- Marinate the shrimp in lime juice; be sure to measure the amount of lime juice you use to marinate the shrimp.
- Mix gently to ensure that all shrimp are covered with lime juice. Wait for the meat to cure and develop a white opaque color, and for the 'naam sa uh' liquids (น้ำสะเออะ) to ooze out of the shrimp meat.
- When the shrimp are cooked to your liking, whether fully or semi-cooked, strain and reserve the liquids that oozed out. Seal the container with a cling film to prevent evaporation and preserve the fruitiness of the lime juice. Set aside.
Prepare the Roselle seed pods.
- Remove and discard the inner seeds from their capsule, either by peeling the red calyces with a knife or by extracting the capsule via pushing it out with a sharp metal tube.
- Cut the bottom of each calyx to straighten the edge, then cut the Roselle calyx into equal size pieces.
- In a wok, bring water to a boil. Turn off the heat and blanch the Roselle for only a few seconds until they become shiny. It is crucial to keep the fruit flesh textured, so do not overcook! Set aside.
Prepare the rest of the salad ingredients.
- Deseed the yellow chilies and remove the inner white membrane. Cut the chilies into small equal-sized squares. Set aside.
- Dice the yellow onion into small equal-sized cubes. Set aside.
- Peel and slice Thai garlic lengthwise into thin slices. Set aside.
- Pick young, equal-sized coriander leaves and soak them in water to freshen them.
Prepare the dressing
- Measure the amount of the shrimp curing liquids 'naam sa uh' (น้ำสะเออะ) and mix with fish sauce, white sugar and kaffir lime juice at the ratios indicated.
Yam Sohm Choon Mango Salad with Sweet Pork Condiment, Fermented Shrimp Paste, Shallots, and Crispy Deep-Fried Fluffy Fish (ยำส้มฉุน ; yam sohm choon)
Yam sohm choon is a sour green mango salad served with grilled fermented shrimp paste; roughly chopped shallots; sweet pork condiment, deep-fried fluffy grilled catfish and seasoned with fish sauce, palm sugar and lime juice and topped with deep-fried dry chilies cut into small pieces.
If you follow Thai movies and TV dramas, you probably remember Sohm Choon, the adorable boy ghost character from the period romance movie Reun Mayura (1997), which was a love story between a beautiful woman and a handsome man living in different periods of time.
c1889 Faux Rhino Skin Salad (ยำโขนงเนื้อเทียม หรือ ยำหนังหมู ; yam kho:h nohng neuua thiiam reuu yam nang muu)
This old-fashioned Siamese pork skin salad is adapted from an 1889 rhino skin salad recipe. It features thin glossy slices of cooked pork skin, simmered in rich coconut cream, and mixed with dried shrimp, roasted coconut, sour fruits; it is seasoned with chili jam-based dressing.
Chef Thapakorn Lertviriyavit (Gorn) brings us a rare perfumed and colorful starter [salad] dish that was rediscovered in a cookbook written by a former governor of Nakhon Ratchasima (พระยานครราชเสนี – สหัด สิงหเสนี), which contained a recipe that called for rose petals, called ‘Yum Gularb’ or ‘Rose Petal Salad’. But I’d prefer to rename it, ‘Yum Gleep Kuppatchka’. You will soon understand why….
Goong Saawn Glin – A Thai Royal Appetizer of Flaky Acid-Cooked Shrimp, Peanuts and Pickled Garlic, with a Sour-Salty-Sweet Shrimp Tomalley Dressing. (กุ้งซ่อนกลิ่น)
กุ้งแนม” หรือ “กุ้งซ่อนกลิ่น – Goong naaem (goong saawn glin) according to the 1908 recipe in Lady Plean Passakornrawong’s “Maae Khruaa Huaa Bpaa (ตำราแม่ครัวหัวป่าก์)” cookbook. Flaky acid-cooked shrimp and the pork fat, along with thinly sliced roasted peanuts and very small unpeeled diced bitter orange (ส้มซ่า som saa), plus paper-thin slices of pickled garlic and julienned fresh red long chili peppers are mixed and seasoned with shrimp tomalley dressing. It is served in wrapped squares, using iceberg lettuce and young thaawng laang leaves.
Gaeng Som Recipe, Thai Sour Curry Recipe of Shrimp, Okra and Roselle Leaves
(gaeng som maawn gra jiiap goong)
สูตรทำแกงส้มมอญกระเจี๊ยบกุ้ง
Gaeng som recipe: Sour curries are without doubt one of Thai cuisine all-time favorites, free from foreign influence and with many regional variations they present a complex balance of four flavors while using only few ingredients, all find a pleasing harmony in one dish.
There are the sourness of the tamarind paste, the saltiness of the fermented shrimp paste and fish sauce, the natural sweetness of the prawns and the vegetables and of course the peppery heat from the chilies. This easy curry paste is as rich as it is simple; the flavor offers a world of depth in a truly innovative combination of flavors.
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