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Deep-fried whitebait with lime and green chilli salt, Thai salad and nam prik
Serves 4 Starters and mains
Ingredients
- sunflower oil, for deep-frying
- 75g quinoa flour
- 500g whitebait
For the nam prik
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2tsp shrimp paste
- 2 fat red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped (leave some seeds in if you prefer hotter)
- 1 1⁄2tsp coconut palm sugar
- juice 1⁄2 lime
- 1tsp fish sauce
For the lime and green chilli salt
- 4 kaffir lime leaves, chopped
- 1 green chilli, deseededand finely chopped
- rind 1 lime, finely grated
- 20g sea salt flakes
For the Thai salad
- 4 spring onions, trimmed
- 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
- juice 1⁄2 lime
- 10cm cucumber, peeled in stripes and sliced
- 50g beansprouts, trimmed
- 200g green papaya, peeled and finely shredded
- handful mint leaves
- handful coriander leaves
- handful Thai basil leaves
- 2tbsp roasted peanuts, roughly chopped
- lime wedges, to serve
You will need
- cook's digital thermometer
Method
To make the nam prik, pound the garlic, a pinch of salt and the shrimp paste to a fine paste. Add the chillies and the coconut palm sugar and pound down to a rough texture, then add the lime juice and the fish sauce.
To make the lime and green chilli salt, put the kaffir lime leaves into a mini processor. Rub the chilli in kitchen paper to remove excess moisture and add to the leaves, then add the lime rind and 1tbsp of the salt and whizz until finely chopped. Mix into the rest of the salt crystals and set aside.
To make the salad, cut the spring onions across into 3 and shred lengthways. Put into cold water to curl for 20 minutes. Drain well and transfer to a flat bowl.
Soak the red onion slices in the lime juice and enough water to just cover for 10 minutes. Drain well and add to the bowl. Add the cucumber, beansprouts and papaya. Scatter with the herbs and peanuts and squeeze over some lime juice, just before serving.
To fry the whitebait, heat the oil in a large wok, high-sided pan or deep-fat fryer to 190C.
Sift the flour into a large paper bag and add a pinch of sea salt flakes. Add a batch of whitebait to coat in the flour and shake off excess flour before frying. Fry, a batch at a time, for around 2 minutes, until pale golden. Transfer to an oven tray lined with kitchen paper and put in a low oven while the other batches are fried.
Serve the nam prik in small bowls placed on the serving plates with the salad and the whitebait, finished with a light sprinkling of the lime and green chilli salt.
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