Apple Salad Revisited

If you have not already found out, Southeast Asia cooking involves a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables. Most of the time, our salad consist of raw fruits or vegetables, a type of protein, and a savory dressing. Weird? You may say so until you try it out, then you will be hooked. And you will never come back to that boring, full of fat vinaigrette  or french dressing again.
When I was in Vietnam, I used to love a salad dish that has green mango and beef jerky or dried shrimp as main ingredients. It has a very very creative name: "Mango salad" :D. The tangy taste of raw green mango just blends perfectly with the salty jerky. Of course they will add enough red hot chilly peppers to set your tongue on fire too. But you just can not stop eating it!
Ever since I moved to the U.S., its been very hard to find green mango in the market. Sometimes I would see one that I pays about $2 for, and still have to compromise with the fact that its not the green, crispy, sour-y, delightful mango that I always miss. But then I discover another wonderful substitute.This fruit lends my salad the tangy, green flavor that I wanted from a green mango, yet its economical and available everywhere.
Yup! The magic Granny Smith Apple saved the day! Dont trust me? Try it, and see for yourself.
Now, you have two options. You can go to a Thai restaurant and see if they offer Apple Salad. Thats where I first ate mine anyway. Or, better yet, take a look at my recipe and make your own. I promise you will love it. Ready?
For a two serving Apple Salad, you will need:

• About 5~6 small Granny Smith Apple
• A handful (about 10~12 count) of dried shrimp. Get this @ asian grocery store. But if you feel iffy about this particular ingredient, skip it. You can substitute with beef jerky,or grilled chicken/pork. 
• One clove of garlic (dressing)
• Half clove of shalot (dressing)
• 1~3 chilly pepper.Your mileage for heat may vary so please add chilly accordingly. You can also use chillie powder, but it will taste different.
• About half a lime ~ a whole lime, depend on how sour it is. 
• 2~4 teaspoon sugar or agave, to taste
• Couple teaspoon of fish sauce. Use salt if you are dreadful of fish sauce :)
•  Quarter of an onion and 1 whole  shallot
• Fried shallot and toasted peanut to garnish. This is optional.

Ready yet?
First, cleanse your apples, then proceed to cut them like the following pictures:

Discard the part with seeds.

Soak your cut apple into a solution of half a tsp of salt and vinegar/lemon/lime for about 10 mins so they remain clean white for awhile. Then drain, rinse with cold water, and let dry. You can put it in the refrigerator while you are making the dressing.
Lets move along!

Roughly chop your dried shrimp into large bit. Do the same if you use jerky.

Combine chopped shrimp, onion, and shallot in a large bowl for mixing

This is for your dressing

Mash the above ingredient in a mortar. Add a teaspoon of sugar when you are smashing. They will become gooey and dont fly around. 

When you are done smashing them, add in 3 more teaspoon of sugar, then add your lime juice. Mix well. Now, if you use fish sauce, add 3 teaspoon first, then taste. If its not salty enough, then add more, otherwise you should be good. However, if you decide to use salt, add only one teaspoon of salt then taste and adjust. You can always add but you can never take out, so build your way up slowly. Your dressing should be a  little tangy (from lime juice), sweet, and slightly salty.

You are almost done! The question is when you want to serve. I always mix my salad 10 minutes before serving so all the flavor are well combined. Usually I dont make just one dish, so I will make the salad, and then make a soup. By the time my soup is done, my salad is ready. Just make sure dont let the mixed salad sit for more than 1hr before serving, it will become too soggy. 10~25min should be good. Before you serve, make sure you taste it first, then adjust with salt, sugar, or more lemon depending on how you like it. Usually I dont need to adjust mine, but you never know :) You can choose to top it with fried shalot (buy from the market or make your own) and toasted peanut, too.

Voila!

Happy eating!