Raw salad with lime dressing and peanuts recipe
Thrillingly fresh and vibrant. You can substitute in other green vegetables, they just have to be raw.
Timings
Prep time: 20 minutes
Serves
Four as a side dish
Ingredients
For the dressing
finely grated zest of 1 lime and juice of 4
1½ tbsp soft light brown sugar
1 tbsp fish sauce
1cm piece of ginger, grated to a purée
1 garlic clove, grated to a purée
a tiny drop of sriracha, added to taste
2 tbsp sunflower oil
For the salad
100g baby spinach leaves
80g frozen or fresh peas, defrosted if frozen
80g young broad beans (podded weight)
100g sugar snap peas, sliced along their length
100g small young courgettes, trimmed and finely sliced
½ red medium-sized chilli, deseeded and finely sliced
½ green medium-sized chilli, deseeded and finely sliced
2 spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced
15g coriander, leaves only
leaves from 8 sprigs of mint
15g Thai basil, leaves only
1½ tbsp roasted peanuts, roughly choppe
Method
1. Make the dressing first so it’s ready to go. Whisk the lime zest and juice together with the sugar in a small bowl, until the sugar dissolves. Add all the other ingredients, whisking with a fork. There are chillies in the salad but I love a tiny drop of sriracha in the dressing; just be careful about the quantity. Taste it for sweet-sour balance and adjust if you need to.
2. Roll a small handful of spinach leaves together and slice them finely. Do this until you have sliced all the spinach. If your peas have been frozen, blot them gently using kitchen paper – wetness is the enemy of this kind of salad as it dilutes the dressing and also makes it hard for the dressing to coat the various components.
3. Just before serving, put everything, except the peanuts, into a bowl and toss together with the dressing. Taste a couple of leaves to make sure you don’t need to add anything; it’s a punchy dressing. Scatter on the peanuts and serve.