Thai seafood salad (Goi Thai tom muc)

The post of this dish is way overdue! I made this yummy Thai salad a couple weeks ago and didn't have a chance to share it until now. It has been an overwhelming week for me physically and emotionally. Sometimes, I really wish to have some alone moments to sit down and unwind all the stresses. But the day continues to pass on, and one day after another I found myself continue to move forward with the whirlwinds of life.

Alright, enough with the excuses for the delay, back to business. This refreshing seafood salad is definitely a must try if you are into Thai food. It can be paired perfectly with any main entree for any daily meal. I used the same dressing ingredients that were used in Thai green papaya salad, and it blended perfectly together with the seafood mixture. It feels like an explosion of flavors in your mouth and sending your taste buds on a wild adventure. What better than a fresh, flavorful plate of salad for dinner in a warm summer night?

Ingredients:

1/2 lbs of jumbo shrimps (peeled and deveined)

1/2 lbs of squids (clean and score diagonally in a criss cross fashion)

1 small Japanese cucumber

1 small carrot (I used yellow carrot)

1 cup of cherry or grape tomatoes

1 cup of green beans and yellow beans (cut into 1.5 inch long)

1/2 white onion
7 heaping teaspoons of palm sugar or brown sugar
6 tsp fish sauce
3 cloves of garlic
2 Thai red chili peppers (more if desired)

Juice of 1 lime
Roasted peanuts (coarsely ground)

Chopped mint leaves

On medium heat, bring a small pot of water to boil and add the shrimps and squids into the boiling water. Cook the shrimps and squids for about 2-3 minutes, remove from heat, drain and rinse under cold water.

Julienne the cucumber and carrot into thin strips and slice the onion thinly, set aside until needed

Pound the garlic, red chili peppers, and palm sugar using a mortar and pestle. Add lime juice and fish sauce to combine and adjust the seasoning to taste. Transfer the dressing into a bowl and use the same mortar and pestle to pound the tomatoes, green and yellow beans until slightly bruise. 

Combine all the vegetables, shrimps and squids in a cleaned salad mixing bowl. Drizzle the dressing on the salad and mix thoroughly.

Transfer the salad onto a serving plate, top with chopped mint leaves and ground roasted peanuts. Serve with white jasmine rice.

Enjoy!