Yum Gai

Name: Yum Gai (Spicy Chicken Salad)
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Thai
Ingredients: 280 g dried prawns, soaked to soften; 250 g chicken breast meat, sliced; 3 tablespoons lemon or lime juice; mint leaves; 2 tablespoons fish sauce (nam pla); 140 g chopped palm sugar or brown sugar; 2 tomatoes, cut into wedges; 280 g garlic, peeled; 2 tablespoons tamarind pulp; ¼ cup (60 ml) water; ¼ cup (60 ml) fish sauce (nam pla); ¼ cup (60 ml) coconut cream; 2 teaspoons salt; 6 stalks lemongrass, ends trimmed and finely sliced; 1 tablespoon chopped palm sugar or brown sugar; 100 g mint leaves, finely sliced; 50 g coriander leaves, finely sliced; 2.5-cm piece dried prawn paste (gapi), roasted and crumbled; 3 cups (750 ml) cooking oil; 170 g dried chillies, seeded, soaked to soften, then cut into short lengths; 3 red chillies, seeded and cut into strips; 280 g shallots, peeled; 10 bird’s eye chillies, coarsely pounded; 4 kaffir lime leaves, finely sliced

Spicy Chicken Salad

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

The Little Thai Cookbook

By Marshall Cavendish

Published 2014

About

Thai salads can be enjoyed as a starter or a full meal on its own. Like this spicy chicken salad, it can be protein-heavy, with tenderly grilled meat, or mild and light with refreshing slivers of fresh fruit. In this recipe, the chicken can be substituted with boiled or grilled prawns and squid.

Ingredients

10 bird’s eye chillies, coarsely pounded
2 tablespoons fish sauce (nam pla)
1 tablespoon

Asia
Thailand
Starter
Spicy
Gluten-free
South East Asia

Method

Prepare the roasted chilli paste. Heat the oil in a wok over medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic and stir-fry until golden brown. Remove and drain. Reheat the oil and add the dried prawns, prawn paste and dried chillies. Stir-fry for about 3 minutes. Remove the ingredients and let the oil cool.
While the oil is cooling, mix the tamarind pulp with ¼ cup (