Operation Wedding: Fresh Pomelo Salad with Dried Shrimp

This is my second attempt at a pomelo salad. I decided to try another recipe so that I can tweak it till I’m satisfied. This recipe does not have fresh prawns, chicken or crab meat but it can be added in for extra taste of simply for greed reasons, either is acceptable.


Fresh Pomelo Salad with Dried Shrimp
Serves 4 as an appetizer

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons dried shrimp
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 to 2 red chilies, very thinly sliced
1 shallot, minced
2 teaspoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 teaspoons sugar (palm sugar preferred)
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
3 tablespoons water
1 pomelo peeled and shredded to yield 2 cups of pulp
3 tablespoons roasted unsalted peanuts, coarsely ground
20-30 fresh mint leaves, to garnish

Directions:

Rinse the dried shrimp well, peeling off any remaining shells. Drain and fry the shrimp pieces in a nonstick skillet over low heat for about 5 minutes. Rind the shrimp to a coarse powder in a blender. Set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat and sauté the garlic until golden brown and fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the chilies, shallot, fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, salt, pepper and water, and simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Place pomelo in a serving bowl, add the sauce, dried shrimp and peanuts, and toss well to mix.

Serve chilled garnish with mint leaves.

Recipe taken from: Asian Tapas – small bites, big flavours.

Post Mortem: I added a little bit of coconut milk and the creaminess of the coconut milk helped to pull the pomelo salad together and to add some depth to the dish. I think it was still a little too salty and needs a little more sweetness, so I think I might either add some desiccated coconut or some fresh coconut shavings the next time. I also didn’t have any mint available at home, so I garnished with chives instead.