Salads

The following recipes encapsulate everything I love about South-East Asian cooking. They have an underlying freshness to them that really enlivens the palate.

When making these dishes, it is important to prepare each recipe in single quantities; in other words, don’t try to double the dressing or you may lose control of the balance and the salad won’t work.

But don’t be constrained by the recipes either: mix and match and use lots of herbs. All sorts of things are wonderful in conjunction with crisp lettuce and meat, fish or tofu, and you can quite comfortably mix sauces. Something as simple as a fermented red bean curd marinade can work beautifully with squid or prawns before they are barbecued. This can be served with a cabbage salad or simply with herbs, cucumber and perhaps a little Nuoc Cham on the side. That really is modern Asian cooking!