Vietnamese-style Prawn & Mango Salad with prawn crackers

A Vietnamese-style summer starter perfect for the festive hosting season. I'd serve this salad as a starter to share between 4 people.

Ingredients

Salad

500g (10 x large) tiger prawns, cooked, halved lengthwise and deveined

2 carrots, peeled and julienned

1-2 mangoes, peeled and thinly sliced. Try to pick ones that are still firm/green and underripe as possible. Using ones that are too ripe will result in them getting too mushed in the salad.

1 spanish/red onion, finely sliced

2 lebanese cucumbers, halved lengthwise, centre scrapped out with a teaspoon and then finely sliced

3-4 stalks of mint, finely chopped

3-4 stalks of Vietnamese mint, finely chopped

3-4 stalks of coriander, finely chopped

2-3 tablespoons of roasted peanuts, roughly chopped

1 long red chilli finely sliced, optional

Dressing

3 tablespoons of Vietnamese Dipping Sauce (if you already have it on hand) or,

1 tablespoon of palm sugar- You can substitute for ½ tablespoon white and ½ tablespoon brown sugar

Juice of 1 lime/lemon

1 tablespoon of fish sauce

Crackers for serving

20 prawn crackers or 2 black sesame rice paper crackers

Method

1. For the prawn crackers, you can either fry them in oil the traditional way or microwave them. To fry, heat about 1 cup of vegetable or neutral oil in a small pot and once a chopstick inserted into the pot bubbles, place a prawn cracker in one at a time and quickly swirl with your chopsticks so that it puffs up in the cracker. Cook in the oil for about 30 seconds, until just about to turn golden and place onto a paper towel line plate to dry and remove any excess oil. To microwave, place the prawn crackers onto the edge of the microwave turntable and cook for 40 seconds or until the have fully puffed up.
2. If you’re serving with black sesame rice paper crackers, place the rice paper into your microwave and cook for 1 minute or extra 15 second increments until it is fully puffed up. Snap into smaller pieces to eat with the salad.
3. Prep all of the salad ingredients in advance and assemble only just before serving.
4. To assemble, place the prawns, carrot, cucumber, Spanish onion, mint, Vietnamese mint, coriander, 3/4 of the peanuts and chilli into a boil. Pour over ¾ of the dipping sauce and toss to combine. 
5. Gently add in the mangoes and use tongs to very gently mix the mango through the salad. Taste and add more dressing to your liking.
6. Place salad on serving dish, ensuring the prawns are right side up on top of the salad for the best presentation. Top with the remaining peanuts. 
7. Place the prawn crackers of black sesame rice crackers in a separate dish and serve immediately.
8. To eat, place some salad onto a prawn cracker and eat it together in a few bites like you would a tostada.

Watch the Process