Yam Takrai

the Thai salad in which lemongrass is the leaf: the tender stalk sliced hair-thin and tossed with prawns, pork, toasted cashews, and dried shrimp in a lime and fish sauce dressing

Origin: Bangkok & Central Thailand

From the journey of Lemongrass.

Yam is the Thai word for a salad made by tossing ingredients with a dressing of lime, fish sauce, sugar, and chilli, and takrai is lemongrass. In most Thai dishes lemongrass is bruised and cooked or pounded into a paste; in yam takrai it is eaten raw, the tender pale core of the stalk sliced so thin that it can be chewed, and it takes the place that lettuce or green papaya takes in other salads. The rest of the dish is there to set it off: boiled prawns and minced pork, toasted cashews, dried shrimp crisped in a dry pan, shallot, mint, and coriander. The skill is all in the knife. Lemongrass that is cut too thick is woody and inedible, and the stalk must be sliced across the grain, from the root end upwards, only as far as the core stays tender.

Ingredients

Salad

  • 6 stalks of young lemongrass
  • 150 g raw prawns, peeled
  • 100 g minced pork
  • 3 tbsp dried shrimp
  • 50 g cashew nuts
  • 3 shallots, thinly sliced
  • 1 handful mint leaves
  • 1 handful coriander leaves

Dressing

  • 3 tbsp lime juice
  • 2 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 tbsp palm sugar, grated
  • 3 bird's eye chillies, finely chopped

Method

  1. Strip the lemongrass to its pale inner core and slice it across the grain as thinly as you possibly can, from the root end up, stopping where it turns fibrous. You want about a cupful.
  2. Toast the cashews and the dried shrimp separately in a dry pan until golden. Set aside.
  3. Poach the prawns in simmering water for 2 minutes until pink; drain. Cook the pork in 3 tablespoons of water, breaking it up, until just done; drain.
  4. Stir the dressing ingredients together until the sugar dissolves.
  5. Toss the lemongrass, prawns, pork, shallots, and dressing together, then add the herbs, cashews, and dried shrimp and toss once more.
  6. Serve at once, as part of a meal with rice.

Notes

Use the youngest, plumpest lemongrass you can find; older stalks have a thinner tender core.

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