Of all the salads I make this is easily the most popular, on account of its size, colour and free-for-all scramble with oversize chopsticks during the tossing and mixing stage. Guests often say they could just eat this alone and be happy. Here is a run through of the ingredients and a step-by-step guide to assembling this at home for your next family gathering. If things seem overwhelming don’t abandon the project, just persist by splitting the task into smaller parts. Each ingredient can be prepared a day or two ahead, so you only need to assemble the salad on the day of your party. Make no mistake – this is a party dish.
The whole recipe is here with suggestions on a suitable tray that can accommodate the salad. Step-by-step instructions and photos below. After preparing each ingredient, store in an airtight tupperware (chill the fruit and vegetables) until required. The dressing is very simple: 200g plum jam (I use Bonne Maman’s Mirabelle Plum Jam), 2 tablespoons lime juice, grated lime zest and 1½ teaspoons rice vinegar.
Wash and refresh one or two heads of red salad leaves, add coriander, radishes and spring onion (not shown)
Slice the gyoza skins, deep-fry in hot oil
Roast the peanuts then crush, toast the sesame seeds in a dry pan (or use ready-toasted sesame seeds), slice the chilli
Slice the pickled onions, drain a quantity of sushi ginger, finely slice the kaffir lime leaves
Spiralize the daikon/ mooli and carrots (see end of post for the spiralizer)
Prepare the pomelo, pomegranate and mango
I use a simple spiralizer from Benriner and also have a spiralizer attachment for my KitchenAid. For the latter you need to start with very large vegetables so I don’t use it much
You need very long chopsticks (these are 42 cm long) for the communal tossing of the salad, and regular-sized chopsticks for eating it. The long chopsticks are a gift from Accounting Friend, mirroring her dad’s gift to my parents of their first domestic electric steam boat/ hotpot. We used the hotpot each Chinese New Year Eve at the family reunion dinner, and I loved this tradition so much I eventually bought my own electric hotpot.
