This vibrant, zingy salad demonstrates the integral role of chilli heat in Vietnamese, and wider South East Asian, cooking.
‘Goi Chay’, VIETNAM
It is all about balance, carefully combining salty with sweet, and sour with hot. A chilli garlic paste forms the base of many of the country’s dipping sauces and this dressing, here with a jolt of ginger in the mix as well. Add in zesty lime, brackish fish sauce and liquorice herbs and there are plenty of big flavours to offset the fresh delicacy, making it a salad you can eat in mounds.
SERVES 4 (or more as a side)
INGREDIENTS
- 1 Chinese napa cabbage, finely shredded
- 2 carrots, peeled and grated
- Handful beansprouts
- ½ small red onion, very finely sliced
- Handful mint leaves, roughly chopped
- Handful Thai basil leaves, roughly chopped
- 80g (½ cup) roasted peanuts, roughly chopped
- Generous scattering crisp-fried shallots
For the chilli ginger dressing
- 1 red bird’s eye chilli, seeds in, finely chopped
- 1cm (½ inch) ginger, peeled and minced (1 teaspoon)
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce or vegetarian fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- Combine all the ingredients for the dressing and set aside for half an hour for the flavours to mingle.
- Combine the cabbage, carrot, beansprouts, and onion in a large serving bowl. Toss through most of the herbs and the dressing, then use your hands to squeeze everything together (messy though it may be, it really makes a difference to the flavour).Taste for seasoning, adding salt if needed.
- Scatter over the remaining herbs, peanuts, and fried shallots. Eat freshly made, but leftovers keep well as the vegetables will slightly pickle in the tangy dressing.
This is an edited text and image extract from The Nutmeg Trail by Eleanor Ford, photography by Ola O. Smit. Published by Murdoch Books, RRP $49.99.
This article was originally published in Issue 29 – Flights of Fancy. You can purchase this issue and enjoy more delicious content here.
