January 16, 2009

Thai spicy salad and a Persimmon pudding to cool you down!

Spicy Thai salad is my contribution to "A.W.E.D.-Thailand" (vegetarian) event which is hosted by DK of "Culinary Bazaar". Thanks for hosting, dear Ms. DK! :))
As DK and I were talking about weight, gaining and losing and all that beautiful things (Mine mostly! :D) last week, I thought I will make a light and spicy dish rather than usual Thai curries specially for DK for her event and went on to search and research to come up with this salad. Then I find this event "Just for you" hosted by Alka of "Sindhi Rasoi" who asks us to cook for a friend, family members etc. So, this salad which I specially picked and made for DK fits perfectly to Alka's event as well! :)
LG of "cooking station" is hosting a "SWC-salads under 15mins" event too, just found out. Here it is for you too LG, enjoy!
Then came this wonderful "AFAM-Persimmon" event, originally conceived by Maheswari and Trupti of "recipecenterforall" is guest hosting this month with her choice of fruit. Persimmon Pudding goes to her.
Since this pudding is baked with fruit, low fat milk and excellent for kids as well as adults, I am sending this to "Cooking for kids-Milk, milk products" event which is started by Sharmi of "Neivedyam" blog and Preety of "Preety's Kitchen" is guest hosting this month.

Thanks for all of you for taking time to host and round up, enjoy the spicy Thai salad and cool it down with delicious and easy to make Persimmon Pudding!! :)

Hot and spicy salad from Thailand:
Well.. I don't know whether Thai people eat this salad in their land (like Taco Bell is authentic "Mexican food", "Curry" is Indian! :D) but in US restaurants, this spicy salad is quite popular as an appetizer. Yes, I have eaten it and loved it, that's where the inspiration comes from for me to recreate this salad.
There is a Thai Beef salad called "Yam Neua", similar to this dish except served topped with grilled Beef. I have adapted this vegetarian recipe with some additions of my own from the Naked chef "Jamie Oliver".

All I can say is, this salad is deliciously spicy and can make a great light lunch as well. Loaded with fresh vegetables, peanuts, Almonds, green chillies, crunchy noodles and topped with sesame seeds oil, ginger, garlic. lemon juice etc in the dressing, it makes a satisfying and low fat appetizer or lunch. Enjoy.

Spicy Thai salad 1

You need these:

Bunch of Romaine lettuce, Iceberg Lettuce, fresh Tomato, Cucumber slices, baby red radishes, green, red and orange bell peppers slices, 1/4 minced Jalapeno, bean sprouts if you have it, snow peas, grated carrots, green onions, purple cabbage slices, red onion slices, toasted sesame seeds, toasted Almond slivers, toasted or salted peanuts, store bought crispy flour noodles (Asian "Sev"), fresh Cilantro, few Mint leaves or Thai Basil if you have it. Any fresh veggies you can get your hands will do.


On a salad plate or bowl, add lettuce first to create a bed, add all the other veggies mentioned above one by one and pile up. Sprinkle roasted nuts, crunchy noodles and herbs on top, garnish with green onion. Serve with hot and spicy dressing on the side and just before you serve or eat, sprinkle the dressing on top. Don't mix dressing before hand, fresh veggies and nuts get soggy and soft. Remember, dressing is spicy!

Thai style HOT dressing! Slurp!! :D

For Thai dressing, mix all these well in a bowl and let it rest for an hour or so in the fridge:
3-4 tbsp fresh lemon juice, 1 tsp canola oil, 1 tbsp sesame seed oil, 2 tsp Soy sauce, 1 tsp brown sugar or honey, 1 tsp grated ginger, 1 garlic, grated, 1 tsp red chilli sauce (I added Sriracha hot sauce, and 1/2 tsp of peanut butter too!), few cilantro. Shake these well in a bottle, pour into a bowl and chill for few mins before serving. Stick a few lemon slices and cilantro to garnish. Adjust the salt, chilli etc to your taste. It should spicy, sweet and tangy, all in one. Sounds good, huh? Enjoy! :))

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Persimmon:
I am happy to give you this delicious and easy to bake recipe. I had neverbought Persimmon before since I didn't know how it tasted. Thanks to Trupti's AFAM, I went and bought 4 Japanese "Fuyus" Persimmon which look like ripe yellow Tomatoes. It smelled so delicious and tasted like Lychees. They say that other kind of Persimmon, which is heart shaped tangy "Hachiya" should be used to cook, and Fuyus should be eaten fresh. But I did use the Fuyus and trust me, they baked perfectly even with a thick sweet syrup under the pudding!! My son ate half of it alone with cream! :D
Hope you try and bake this yummy pudding. It's low in fat and not too sweet, great for kids and grown ups alike, almost a diet dessert if you skip the cream!!

Persimmon Pudding:
This recipe is adapted from "Allrecipes" websites but I did a change a lot, specially cut down the sugar etc. If you don't like the Egg, you can skip it. Pudding is scoopable, not like cake. So it's quite okay to skip the egg, egg makes it fluffy though. Baking time varies too acc. to your oven.


To bake Persimmon Pudding, you need these:
4 ripe Fuyu persimmons, peeled and roughly chopped or squeeze out into chunks,
1/3 cup white sugar, or more if you like it really sweet,
1 egg, beaten, (skip the egg if you like but pudding will be less fluffy)
1 cup all-purpose flour,
1/4 tsp baking soda,
1 tsp baking powder.

1/2 teaspoon ground sweet cinnamon,
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract,
1/2 pinch salt,
3/4 cup 2% milk,
2 tbsp melted butter.

To bake Pudding:
Preheat oven to 350F.
Lightly butter or spray a 9" round deep baking dish.

1. In a mixing bowl, mix persimmon pulp, baking soda, sugar and egg and beat until well mixed.
2. Add flour, baking powder, cinnamon, vanilla essence, salt, milk and melted butter to the bowl with fruit etc, mix well again.
3. Pour into baking pan and bake for 50-65 minutes or until needle inserted comes clean. Do not over bake,it's okay if it's little soft in the center, it will firm up as it cools.

(You don't have to do this step but do it if you can. After 20mins of baking, open the oven door and with a fork, stir the middle of the pudding few times and let it bake. It makes the pudding fluffier! Don't open the oven door again)

4. Pudding will rise in the oven and puff but will fall in after cooling, which is normal. Cool the pudding.
5. Serve with creamy whipped cream if you like.
You can use any ripe fruit with pulp in the same recipe instaed of Persimmons. Oven baking times may vary, use your judgment.

Have a great weekend, see you on Monday! :))

49 comments:

  1. Hi Asha! Like the Thai salad and spicy dressing...I saw Persimmons in shops...never tasted them...Pudding looks delicious...

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  2. I love thai salde liks this, it is spicy and refreshing at the same time.
    I have never made anything with permission and the pudding looks so yumm.
    Have a wonderful weekend.
    We are planning to go for shopping, tommorow as it is sales here and Shyama need trousers, pull over etc and yeah Hans to need to buy trousers.

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  3. That pudding look good! You see I ignore the bit about weight. I hope if I ignore it long enough it will go away (the weight) LOL!

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  4. I have seen a similar recipe for Thai veggie salad,but as you said,was not so sure how "authentic" it was..so far,I have seen only non-veg thai dishes..this one's a treat..the plate looks so tempting..;-)I have not tried/tasted anything with Persimmon and am not sure whether it is available here..would love to cook with it now that I've seen how easy it is to make the pudding which can be made eggless too..;-)

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  5. PERFECTO!!!I love love love that salad...not just becoz its colorful and healthy but becoz its SPICY!!!!:)..
    Persimmon is a very new fruit to me...dont recollect seeing it anywhr in the stores too..tastes like lychees huh..then i would definitely like it..The pudding looks divine..thats one inviting plate Asha...

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  6. Anonymous9:26 AM

    Thats one colourful,spicy and nutritious salad that i would love to dig in....thnks for the entry,i am so glad that u send this in !

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  7. The salad is very inviting - I would rather have it without the dressing! Looks bountiful:) The pudding looks good but I do not even know how persimmon tastes!

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  8. Good Morning Asha! I am here and your comment just popped up in mine :)..Spicy salad?? Most welcome in my house,hehe. It must be so good with those cool veggies. Do post any other thai recipes if u do cook them. I have never attempted thai food at home. The pudding looks great too, have tasted only the fruit and it was pleasantly good.

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  9. Persimmons are called something else here and most of the time they look like spoiling tomatoes... ouch! :)

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  10. Vijaya, try once. Choose the ones which look like ripe round Tomatoes, they are sweet and smells so good!:)

    Spicy salad was so good, I saved some dinner too, had it for lunch.Very satisfying! Happy shopping, it's always fun! :)

    LOL! Meeta, when I started looking exactly like my nani and mummy, I gave up the hope of being skinny! Low fat is great, no-fat is not good at all in my book! :D
    But they both are healthy and happy though, so wt doesn't bother me much as long as I feel good and healthy!:))
    Glad I tried the Persimmons, they are yummy!

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  11. Divya, that's true. This salad is topped with Beef too, I skipped that but can't say it's authentic now! :D
    Makes great lunch though, gives a kick in the throat!
    Persimmons are great, try once.

    Thanks Ranji. Yeah, I love the spicy dressing too, nothing like plain "olive oil and Vinegar" one. persimmons are seasonal, so keep an eye on them or you can use any fruit pulp in this pudding too! :)

    You are welcome Alka. It is great salad, I was surprised how yummy it tasted!:)

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  12. H, fresh chilled veggies are great to eat by themselves. Persimmon smell like Lichis, tastes slightly sweet and very pulpy and naturally juicy. Try the round ones. Heart shaped ones are very tangy, may be good for cakes or with lot of sugar!:)

    Maya, I have one Thai Eggplant dish at FH, but don't cook much Thai at home because kids don't like spicy food too much. I will post one when I make it! Make pudding next time, it's so good and low fat too! :)

    J, they do look like tomatoes! :D
    Ripe ones are great to eat and they do spoil very quickly sitting on the counter top, got to use quick! :)

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  13. I've not had this thai salad before... but with that spicy dressing it must've been awesome! I tasted persimmon for the first time in Spore and really liked it.. pudding looks delish.

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  14. I should move to S'pore, Laavanya. You get everything we get in India there and more! Must be fun to live there! Make this pudding next time, it's really good, kids love it!:))

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  15. You know what? I had persimmon in Thailand. It was so tasty, dunno what kind it was.

    And when you ask for veg salad in Thailand, the vendor on the street will make it for you in the same vessel he's made the non-veg version with crabs, fish sauce etc! :-)

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  16. here you go...coming up with entries for all the events..how do you manage asha dear!..my head was spinning when I had a look at your event details on the side bar!!!...

    lovely dishes...beautiful dressing!

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  17. sra, that is so gross! He will make all the pure vegetarians commit suicide if they know it, that's not good at all! :D
    Sweet round ones are Japanese and they say that heart shaped ones are really tangy, makes your mouth pucker. I love this sweet Fuyu thing!:))

    Sri, it's good that most hosts don't mind one dish sent to several events. That's the only way I can send it to the events, or else I can send it to only 4 or 5 per month, too many events are on these days! :D

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  18. Hmm the pudding sounds cool and thai dressing is on top! Lovely entries

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  19. Hi Asha, Nice spicy salad for this cold winter..I have not heard of that fruit..will definitely loof for them this time.. The pudding looks yummmm...

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  20. That a healthy salad. Pudding looks awesome! Gotta try your thai salad dressing.

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  21. Thanks Cham, hope you try the pudding! :)

    Ashwini, I think they are seasonal. I see them in specialty grocery store but not in regular ones, do try the pudding if you can get those! :)

    Thai salad dressing is very HOT, Anu! I used Sriracha sauce!!:D

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  22. What a colourful salad and te dressing doeslook Hot!

    I love persimmons, but somehow, my attempts to cook with them haven't been that successful :-(

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  23. Try this pudding, Sunita. Even the kids whip this thing up in mins, very easy and delicious! I cut down the amount of sugar but you can add more if you like! :))

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  24. mmm. love that spicy salad and mouthwatering pudding! Great entries! Have a great weekend!

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  25. Anonymous6:44 PM

    Hi Asha,
    like the salad.looks crunchy.

    shalini

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  26. Have never tasted persimmon before! Love thai cuisine,love that salad too,Cool recipe!

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  27. Hi Asha, i was not aware that u have another food blog!i just clicked on the link in ur sidebar and here i am! the salad looks great and colorful..nicely presented..i guess u can send it to another event http://testtasteofmysore.blogspot.com/2009/01/swc-salads-under-15-mins.html

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  28. Wish you a belated happy new year asha, dish looks awesome, especially the hot and spicy soup

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  29. i meant dressing sorry, it looked like yummy tomato soup :)

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  30. Thanks Uma, we loved the pudding too! :))

    Thanks Shalini, hope you make it!:))

    Raks, get some Persimmons and try this pudding, it's yummy!:))

    Thank you so much K, I just checked that event and send it to her. I didn't know about that, glad you told me, this salad fits perfectly! :)

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  31. I love peanuts in my food, and your Thai salad looks really delicious. :)

    Don't mind a slice of that Persimmon pudding too:)

    Beautiful!
    Sharon

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  32. Healthy salad..I liked the dressing..I never tried making thai food at home..Will surely try..Thanks for sharing this recipe :)

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  33. Persimmon is new for me..have to try this if i find this fruit..

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  34. I have never attempted Thai food at home. . The salad looks great ,colorful and very inviting.. The pudding looks divine.. But I have not heard of that fruit. Both the dishes are new to me.. lovely dishes.. Lovely entries…Have a wonderful weekend!

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  35. Ek teer do nishane, here two teer, many nishane!! :D Loved the greens in your veg-veggie salad! The Permission is new to me, had read abt this few weeks ago thru blog. This surely looks yummy pudding! Beautiful entries!

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  36. Asha,
    I just love this spread.It's delicious and loved the pictures too. I keep forgetting to post about AWED-Thai event. Hopefully, I am not too late.
    Persimmon - I am still wondering what to make...

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  37. I want to try this pudding recipe! Thanks for sharing Asha. : )

    I just bookmarked it on delicious for later use. I hope you're having a good weekend. It's snowing like crazy again here.

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  38. Roopa, if it's thin enough, it could be soup too! Makes yummy soup! :))

    Thanks Sharon, tried Persimmons for the first time, loved the taste!

    Do try P, Thai food is almost like Indian except fish sauce and soya sauce.

    Preety, it smells so good, give it a try. Got to try everything once! :)

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  39. Thanks Jaishree, it's fun to try new food and tastes, do try!

    :D
    Purni, if not many nishane for one theer, I could send about 3-4 dishes a month for 3-4 events, glad they accept it this way! Get some Tomato style Persimmons, really good. Glad I tried, love it!:)

    Anali, it's such an easy recipe too, can make it in a jiffy but baking takes a while. Hope you do try! :)

    It's not that bad here today, we are excepting snow tomorrow but I don't think it will be something big, may get few flurries.Be warm there.

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  40. Hi Ashakka, I was away partying with Mahila Sangha ladies so could not check out your post and thanks for sending me this lovely entry. Salad looks refreshing and thai salads are always flavorful. Nice presentation too..

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  41. Lovely :-)

    I got to eat persimmon in Nov 2007 when my cousin brought it back from Himachal :-) But I haven't done anything with it :-)

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  42. ...and its no wonder that I adore u so much! U make salads sound yum! Until now if the dieting manual said, salad for lunch - I would eat Pasta Salad, rice salad etc ;-) ! If I was meant to eat salad , then I wud have been born a goat u know! But well - guess my anti-goat days are finally over with you salad! I will making it this weekend and claim myself to be on the best diet ever ;-) By the way isnt that delicious pudding a side for the salad ;) ;)


    Lots of tight hugs for the delicious food....

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  43. Take your time L, come here and say hi when you can, not a problem at all! Hugs!:))

    Raaga, I had never tried this either until AFAM! It's so good, I will buy some whenever I see them now.Tushar loved the pudding! :))

    Hahaha!! DK, if I have to eat salad for lunch and dinner as a "diet", I would rather kill myself! :D

    Once in a while, it's nice to have a salad for lunch, I can't take it everyday either.

    Have fun there, I didn't know you were in India. There goes our diet again! ;D

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  44. India? I am not in India! I am here "few" miles right across on the west coast!

    And since I know I am going to make your salad this weekend - the thought of me being so good enough that i am eating salads made me get into splurging mood by going for the makhani! -Its ur Salad that gives me strength to eat Dal Makhani's Asha - Dint you get it ;-)

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  45. ROTFL! Sure, sure DK! Eat salad and then feel good and then hog all the Makhani and then feel guilty. HeeHee!! Sounds like a great idea to me.

    Oh, I thought I read you were in India in your blog. Shoot! I go to so many blogs in a day these days, I think I am layering people and infos over in my mind. Glad my mind is STILL is in working condition although malfunctions sometimes! :D

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  46. Slurp, slurp, slurp. Never tasted it. It would be very nice if u cook it for me.

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  47. Haha!! You wish!! ;D

    Rajee, try it, really tasty. Good lunch for Summer days as well! :))

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  48. Great looking salad Asha!! I hunted for Persimmon in our neck of the woods for AFAM - no luck. So I'll enjoy the lovely pics here:)

    Apu

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  49. Hi A, Persimmon is seasonal and hard to find sometimes. But they are so sweet and delicious, try when you get some there! :)

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