Mango Noodle Seafood Salad

Ingredients:

500 g freshwater prawns
200 g glass noodles
2 mango, 1 ripe, 1 unripe, peeled and finely sliced
2 lime leaves, finely sliced
15 g chopped coriander leaves
2 tbsp chopped mint leaves
55 g crisp fried shallots
60 ml fish sauce, see Cook’s note below
1 lime, juice only
1 pinches sugar
salad greens, to serve
85 g peanuts, roasted and ground, to garnish

For the paste:

6 red chillies
225 g dried shrimps, soaked in hot water and drained
2 tbsp shrimp paste, toasted
3 cloves garlic, peeled
3 tbsp grated palm sugar
2 tomatoes, chopped


Method:
1. For the finely pounded paste: put all the ingredients into a mortar and grind with the pestle until they form a fine paste. Alternatively, process all the ingredients in a food processor until finely ground.

2. Peel the prawns and blanch briefly in a saucepan of boiling water until they just change colour. Refresh under cold water and drain well.

3. Pour boiling water over the glass noodles and soak until softened and translucent. Run under cold water for 3 minutes to remove any excess starch. Drain well.

4. In a large bowl, combine the prawns, noodles, finely pounded paste, mango, herbs, fried shallots, nam pla and lime juice and mix well. Season to taste with salt and a pinch of sugar. Add more lime juice to taste.

5. To serve, line a serving dish with salad greens, put the prawn and mango mixture on top and garnish with ground peanuts