Sardine Som Tam salad

Name: Sardine Som Tam salad
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 2 large carrots, trimmed and peeled; 1 green papaya, peeled; 15cm-long cucumber; 1 red onion, peeled and very thinly sliced from root to tip; Vegetable oil, for deep frying; 1 x 120g tin sardines in olive oil; 6 cherry tomatoes, quartered; 1 handful fresh mint leaves; 1 handful fresh coriander leaves; 4-6 small garlic cloves, peeled; 2 small red chillies, or more if you like it hot; 1 tbsp palm sugar, or brown sugar; Juice of 1 lime; 6 tbsp fish sauce

Recipe by Mitch Tonks

Serves:: 4
Prep Time:: 15 mins
Cook Time:: 10 mins

This Thai-style salad is full of flavour and really easy to put together. Deep-frying makes tinned sardines really crisp, so you can easily crumble them over the top.

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Ingredients

2 large carrots, trimmed and peeled

1 green papaya, peeled

15cm-long cucumber

1 red onion, peeled and very thinly sliced from root to tip

Vegetable oil, for deep frying

1 x 120g tin sardines in olive oil

6 cherry tomatoes, quartered

1 handful fresh mint leaves

1 handful fresh coriander leaves

For the dressing

4-6 small garlic cloves, peeled

2 small red chillies, or more if you like it hot

1 tbsp palm sugar, or brown sugar

Juice of 1 lime

6 tbsp fish sauce

Method

Thinly slice the carrots, papaya and cucumber, then cut into long, thin matchsticks (if you are lucky enough to have the Thai tool specifically designed for this task, use that instead). Put the strips in a large bowl and add the sliced red onion.

Drain the can of sardines, deep-fry the fish in hot vegetable oil for five minutes, until crisp, then lift out and drain on a plate lined with kitchen paper.

For the dressing, bruise the garlic, chillies and sugar in a mortar, add the lime juice and fish sauce, then pound to break everything down into a paste. It should be hot, sweet and salty, so adjust to taste as necessary.

Pour the dressing over the shredded vegetables and toss to coat. Add the tomato quarters, mint and coriander, and toss again. Crush the sardines and mix half of them into the salad. Transfer to a platter and serve with the remaining crisp crushed fish scattered over the top.

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Mitch Tonks

Mitch Tonks is a restaurateur, food writer, CEO and ambassador for the MSC. Passionate about changing the way people experience seafood in the UK he has a true passion for the sea.

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