{"id":16461,"date":"2014-07-08T14:20:25","date_gmt":"2014-07-08T12:20:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/?p=16461"},"modified":"2016-05-29T16:45:39","modified_gmt":"2016-05-29T14:45:39","slug":"thai-squid-salad-yam-pla-meuk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/?p=16461","title":{"rendered":"Thai Squid Salad (Yam pla meuk)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"squidsaladp\"It has been five months since\u00a0I bought Thai Food by David Thompson<\/a>, a renowned Australian chef. As much as I was thrilled to own and read this beautifully edited,\u00a0huge\u00a0mine of information,\u00a0I found it somehow intimidating and wasn’t in a hurry\u00a0to cook\u00a0from it. However, as soon as I tested a first recipe, I became literally addicted to this fascinating book and now I’m\u00a0going through a phase of Thai cooking frenzy. Thanks to David Thompson\u00a0I\u00a0finally start slowly realising\u00a0what genuine\u00a0Thai flavours taste and smell like. Needless to say, I will never ever buy ready-to-use curry paste again.<\/p>\n

In barely\u00a0two weeks I tested – with a successful\u00a0outcome\u00a0– several curries, but\u00a0I thought I would share with you first\u00a0this quick squid salad, the most summery of all the dishes I have prepared. Its mixture\u00a0of hot, tangy\u00a0and sweet flavours, enriched by\u00a0an explosion of a typically Thai combination of bold scents, create\u00a0a fabulous refreshing treat for all the squid and Thai cuisine\u00a0lovers.<\/p>\n

I have slightly adjusted the ingredients’ quantities to my taste, so check\u00a0Thai Food<\/a>\u00a0to read\u00a0the original recipe and to learn how to cook genuine\u00a0Thai dishes.<\/p>\n

TIPS: The author advises to serve this salad immediately, after blanching the squid\u00a0and,\u00a0even though it is still good when served cold, I prefer it slightly warm.<\/p>\n

Although I suppose\u00a0you might successfully substitute squid with some\u00a0other protein sources, I wouldn’t advise replacing any other ingredient\u00a0(in my opinion only mint could be skipped here without much harm).<\/p>\n

Preparation:<\/em><\/p>\n

Ingredients (serves two as a starter):<\/em><\/p>\n

2 big squids, cleaned (about 15 cm long)<\/em><\/p>\n

3 small (Asian) shallots or two medium Western shallots<\/em><\/p>\n

1 stalk lemongrass<\/em><\/p>\n

2 big makrut (also known as kafir)\u00a0lime leaves<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

3-4\u00a0tablespoons of fresh (torn or roughly chopped) coriander and mint (I have used a 3 : 1 ratio because I preferred coriander’s taste to prevail)<\/em><\/p>\n

Sauce:<\/em><\/p>\n

1 tablespoons lime juice<\/em><\/p>\n

1\/2 teaspoon white sugar<\/em><\/p>\n

2 tablespoons fish sauce<\/em><\/p>\n

3 bird’s eye chillies<\/em><\/p>\n

pinch of salt<\/em><\/p>\n

First prepare the squid.<\/p>\n

Make a big vertical cut through the body, spreading it flat and score it\u00a0diagonally in two directions, on the interior side.<\/p>\n

Cut the squid into long 2 cm thick strips. Then cut\u00a0the strips and tentacles into bite-sized pieces.<\/p>\n

Put aside.<\/p>\n

Slice very finely the makrut\u00a0leaves (I always remove the central vein when using them raw).<\/p>\n

Chop the shallots.<\/p>\n

Remove the outer tough leaves from the lemongrass, the upper 1\/3 of the stalk and also the lowest toughest small bit.<\/p>\n

Slice the remaining part very finely (I have used a mandolin).<\/p>\n

Prepare the sauce in a big bowl: seed and chop finely the chillies and combine with the remaining ingredients.<\/p>\n

Taste the sauce and adjust it to your taste (it should be rather\u00a0salty because the squid is not salted).<\/p>\n

Blanch the squid in boiling water until it is opaque.<\/p>\n

Drain the squid, throw into the sauce and add the remaining salad ingredients.<\/p>\n

Give the salad a stir and serve immediately.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It has been five months since\u00a0I bought Thai Food by David Thompson, a renowned Australian chef. As much as I was thrilled to own and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[125,183,33,85,195,25],"tags":[12,45],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16461"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16461"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18674,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16461\/revisions\/18674"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}