Pla Scallop

“Pla”, “Yam”, Tam”, “Laab” are kinds of processing food in Thai cuisine, all these processes are similar to the process of salad in Western cuisine, the dishes from these processes usually combine the balancing of 4 tastes – sourness, sweetness, spiciness and saltiness. We consider the food from these processes is healthy food as it is less processed, less oil and always combined with fresh herbs.

Not only “Pla”, “Yam”, Tam” and “Laab” dishes are healthy food but more over than that it doesn’t consume a lot of time to make which is an ideal for people who have a busy life and aim to live healthy.

All Thai people love “Pla”, “Yam”, Tam” and “Laab” dishes, sometimes we feel we have no appetite because of the weather as the weather is warm all round year in Thailand or other reasons, but as soon as we see “Pla”, “Yam”, Tam” and “Laab” dishes our mouth is watering.

Ingredients

300 g.                   Scallop

¹⁄₃ cup                  Lemongrass, slice very thin

3                           Shallots, slice thin

5                           Kaffir lime leaves, chop into very thin strip

8                           Mint leaves

2 - 3 pieces          Iceberg lettuce

Salad dressing

2                           Fresh Thai chilli, chopped fine

1 tbsp                   Nam Prik Pao or chilli paste with soya bean oil

1 ½ tbsp               Lime juice

1 tbsp                    Fish sauce

?  Sugar (there is only one brand of Nam Prik Pao in my city and it is sweet enough for this recipe.)

Instruction

1. Grill scallop in a frying pan or grill pan on both sides. Set aside.
2. To make the salad dressing, combine Nam Prik Pao, lime juice and fish sauce and stir until (sugar and) Nam Prik Pao dissolves, and add chilli. Mix well.
3. In a mixing bowl, combine scallop, lemongrass, shallots and kaffir lime leaves, then pour in the salad dressing and mix well.
4. To serve, spoon the mixture onto Iceberg lettuce on the serving plate, garnish with mints. Serve as salad or healthy finger food.