[dropcap]A[/dropcap] freshly-made salad that glows and glistens with salubrious ingredients is possibly one of the healthiestand tastiest dishes that you can quickly put togetherto satiate your wondering appetite today. Salads are ofteneasy to make (and eat) and can exist in as manyincarnationsas your imagination allows. From larb to tum mark hoong – Laotians really enjoy theirsalad dishes, which are made from fresh local ingredients and are often full of zip, zing and alakazam!
Another popular Lao salad dish is the milder counterpart called ‘yum salad’ which may betranslated as ‘salad of lettuce’ or ‘salad of salad’.((1))
Lao yumsalad is essentially a delicious mix of salad vegetables (and herbs), slicedcookedegg white, peanuts and a savoury, sweet and sour egg-yolk based dressing. All of the ingredients in the recipe work well together and each play animportant role in the overall flavour and character of the dish.
One of my favourite ingredients in the saladis the watercress which gives the salad a lovely peppery accent. If you can’t find watercress, you can recreate the piquant flavour with other peppery vegetables, for example, radish orrocket. The pepperiness of the watercress is balanced withthe sweetness of the iceberg lettuce, sliced tomatoes and cucumber, the mildnessof the hard-boiled egg white, the nuttiness of the peanuts, the crunchiness of the fried garlic chips, and the deliciousness of the zesty egg-yolk dressing.
This recipe is an adaptation of ayum salad recipe that I learnt from my sister many years ago. It’s one of dad’s favourite salad dishes and he prefers thisover tum som. Dad’salso a huge fan of larb (preferably raw), although most Lao people (if not all) have an affinity with larb. Dad’s otherfavourite salad dishisa ‘warm’watercress salad whichis a bed of fresh watercresstopped with steaming hot quickly seared, stir-fried sliced beef. It’s delicious and I’ll share a similar recipefor iton a later date.
Traditionally, yum salad is made from readily available ingredients. A lot of the ingredients normally used are what Lao cooks and households would be able to find growing in their own backyard garden or from the local fresh produce markets.((2))
In this recipe, the radicchio and radish are optional, although I dolovethe colour and flavour of both of these ingredients and recommend that you trythem. Rocket, young celery tips, chicory, and curly endivealso make good substitutes in the salad. If you have an allergy to peanuts, by all means omit it and the recipewill still work great. Although, I dothink the peanuts enhance the salad really well with itsdelicious flavour andtexture. Macadamia nuts would alsomake a rapturousalternative in this recipe!
Lao yum salad is a delicious, healthy, mild and easy to make salad that requires minimum fuss and ingredients. I hope you’ll give this recipea try.It is perfect to haveas a light ‘treat my body as a temple’ meal (in which case, do beextra sparingof the infused garlic oil and chips) or to be enjoyed as part of a main meal. The combination of the fresh ingredients and the delicious dressing make this Lao yum salad totally yummy (couldn’t help myself), and a joy to eat and share. Sern saab everybody! smile
Lao yum salad recipe
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A delicious medley of crispy, fresh vegetables and herbs, egg, peanuts, sweet, sour and savoury egg-yolk dressing and infused garlic, ginger, shallot oil and chips.
Author: Padaek
Recipe type: Salad
Cuisine: Lao
Serves: 4
Ingredients
- 4 eggs (hard boiled)
- 1 bunch of watercress
- ½ head of iceberg lettuce
- ½ head of radicchio
- 1 Lebanese cucumber
- 2 tomatoes
- 2 radishes
- 1 coriander
- 1 spring onion
- 1 Asian shallot
- ½ cup of peanuts
- 1 Tablespoon of garlic, ginger, shallot oil (including fried chips)
- Dressing:
- 1 Tablespoon of fish sauce
- 1 Tablespoon of sugar
- 1 lime
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Boil the eggs over medium heat until cooked.
- When the eggs are cooked, let them cool down and then peel and slice them in half length-ways. Remove egg yolk from 3 eggs and place in a mixing bowl. Slice the remaining egg white and other egg into segments and put aside.
- To make the dressing, mash up the egg yolk in the mixing bowl with a fork. Add the fish sauce, sugar, and salt & pepper. Squeeze in the lime juice. Mix together well. Adjust the flavour to suit your palate. What you’re aiming for is a delicious blend of eggy, savoury, sweet, sour and a little zippy!
- Prepare the vegetables and herbs. Wash and cut the watercress into about 10 cm lengths. Remove discoloured leaves, tough stems or roots if necessary. Wash and cut the iceberg lettuce and radicchio into about 5 cm segments. Wash, peel and thinly slice the cucumber into discs. Wash and thinly slice the tomatoes into discs. Wash and thinly slice the radish into discs. Wash, discard the root and cut the coriander into about 5 cm lengths. Wash, discard the root and thinly slice the spring onion and Asian shallot.
- On two large serving plates, neatly arrange the iceberg lettuce and radicchio. Neatly arrange the watercress on top.
- Then, neatly arrange the sliced tomatoes, cucumber, radish, egg, spring onion, Asian shallot and coriander on top.
- Give the salad dressing a stir and then drizzle it all over the salad.
- Randomly sprinkle the peanuts on top.
- Finally, drizzle the garlic, ginger, shallot oil (including the fried chips) all over the salad. Serve the salad immediately with chopsticks or cutlery.
- Mix the salad and dressing together before eating. This yum salad is delicious as a healthy light meal or served to complement a main meal. Sern saab!smile
[[1]]In Lao, the word ‘yum’ means‘salad’ or ‘ salad dish’, or ‘to make a salad dish’. Andthe word ‘salad’ or ‘salat’, or more specifically‘puck salad’ or ‘puck salat’ (puck meaning ‘vegetable’) means‘lettuce’. Thus, ‘yum salad’ or ‘yum salat’ or ‘yum puck salad’ or ‘yum puck salat’ translates to ‘salad of lettuce’. However, if you write‘yum salad’, this can also mean ‘salad salad’ or ‘salad of salad’ (that is, ‘salad of yum’). I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to confuse you. I just wanted to share with youwhat I know about the meaningof the name of this recipe/salad dish. I don’t knowwhatthe historyof the word ‘salad’, ‘salat’, ‘yum’ or ‘yam’ (alternative English spelling) is but I’m sure it’s interesting. If you know, please feel free to share it with us. Thanks in advance.[[1]]
[[2]]Watercress might be difficult for you to find.I finally found somefor saleat a local specialty fruit and veg store and also at Asian greengrocers in Cabramatta, NSW.[[2]]
