Pauline Nguyen, Luke Nguyen, Mark Jensen

Salad of Chargrilled Octopus, Basil and Lemon Grass

Name: Salad of Chargrilled Octopus, Basil and Lemon Grass (Mực Nướng Xả)
Yield: Serves 2 as a main, or 6 as part of a shared feast
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Ingredients: 4 tablespoons fish sauce; 2 tablespoons lemon juice; 1 tablespoon sugar; 1 teaspoon salt; ½ teaspoon fried garlic; ½ teaspoon roasted rice powder; 3 tablespoons dipping fish sauce; 2 tablespoons fried red Asian shallots; 1 tablespoon chopped roasted peanuts; 1 bird’s eye chilli, sliced; 2 garlic cloves, crushed; 1 tablespoon oil; 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) small octopus, cleaned; 2 Lebanese (short) cucumbers; 5 cm (2 in) piece of lemon grass, white part only, finely sliced; 1 small red onion, cut into wedges; 1 handful Thai basil leaves, torn; 10 cherry tomatoes, halved

Mực Nướng Xả

Preparation info

Serves
2
as a main

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Secrets of the Red Lantern

By Pauline Nguyen , Luke Nguyen and Mark Jensen

Published 2007

About

Ingredients

4 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 table

Asia
Vietnam
Fish course
Pescatarian
Southeast Asia

Method

Add the fish sauce, lemon juice, sugar, salt, garlic and oil to a bowl and mix well. Add the octopus and marinate for 30 minutes. To make the salad, halve the cucumbers lengthways, remove the seeds and slice into fine batons. Combine the cucumber, lemon grass, onion, Thai basil, cherry tomatoes, fried garlic and rice powder in a bowl and set aside.

Cook the octopus on a chargrill pan ov