Sweet fish sauce with fresh fruits

This salad has the sweetness of the fruit as well as the saltiness of the fish sauce with a pinch of palm sugar, finished off with some tamarind that gives it the sourness.

Credit: Danielle Abou Karam

• serves

  6

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  15 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 250 g palm sugar, grated
• 125 ml (½ cup) fish sauce
• 1 lemongrass stalk, tough outer leaves removed, cut into 10-cm lengths and pounded
• 1 red Asian shallot, peeled and sliced
• 5 makrut lime leaves, crushed, plus finely shredded leaves, to serve
• 3 coriander roots, scraped clean and washed
• 50 g tamarind paste
• 1 tsp sea salt

To serve

• green mango
• papaya
• dragon fruit
• pineapple
• watermelon
• lychees
• banana
• lime wedges, for squeezing

Instructions

1. Place the palm sugar and the fish sauce in a saucepan and stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil, then add the lemongrass, shallot, lime leaves and coriander roots and simmer for 5-10 minutes or until slightly thickened. Remove from the heat, stir in the tamarind paste until well combined. Strain and set aside to cool.
2. Prepare the fruits and place on a large serving plate. Drizzle over the sweet fish sauce, then sprinkle with the shredded lime leaf and a sprinkle of sea salt.

 

Photography by Danielle Abou Karam.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.