Thai salads for a warm night: Yum Pol-mai Goong and Yum Nuea

It has been far too hot in San Francisco to think about eating anything heavy or even warm, so tonight, after a couple of dinner plans fell through, I decided to make two cold Thai salads for dinner, Yum Pol-mai Goong (Prawns and fruits salad), and Yum Nuea (Spicy Beef Salad).

The first was Yum Pol-mai Goong, which had some jicama, apple, grapes, cherry tomatoes, prawns (lightly cooked, shelled, and devained), cilantro, a small handful of very thinly sliced onion, and chopped birdeye chillies. All these got tossed with a dressing made with fish sauce, lime juice, and a tiny bit of sugar. This dressing should be sour first, then salty and spicy, the sweetness should come mostly from the fruits and not the added sugar.

The second salad was Yum Nuea, made with ribeye steak (grilled or pan fried until medium rare, let cool, then sliced thin), a handful of mint, chopped cilantro, chopped spring onions, thinly sliced shallots, 1 tbsp of ground toasted rice*, and chilli powder, to taste, then tossed with a dressing also made of fish sauce, lime juice, and a tiny bit of sugar. The dressing should be salty first, then spicy, then sour. (*the toasted rice is made by dry roasting some rice in a hot skillet, then ground in a pestle and mortar until fine.)

Served up with some plain sticky rice, and washed down with a bottle of 2002 Christoffel Auslese, and then later a half bottle of 2003 Tempier Bandol Rosé. Just a perfectly cool meal for a hot night in San Francisco.