Salad with cold water prawns, chunks of blue swimming crab and a Korean style sesame and chilli dressing.
The summer season is finally here in Edinburgh after a long, cold, dark winter and with it comes salad season. I love nothing more than a good fresh salad on a warm summers day, in fact I have been dreaming about one all winter – there is something about a summer’s day that just says “salad”, or maybe its just me!
With this salad of cold water prawns, blue swimming crab meat, eggs, romaine lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, red chilli, yellow bell pepper and red onion, the twist comes with the dressing which transforms the salad to something really special. The dressing is made from sesame seeds, sesame oil, dark soy sauce, honey, vinegar and the essential Korean ingredient – gochujang chilli paste.
I always find it hard to put into words exactly how my food tastes, but one thing I can say for sure is that the dressing transforms an ordinary salad into a truly exotic and fun dish.
Serves two as main dish or four as a starter
Ingredients and method
The salad
120-150g crab meat – I used blue swimming crab
125-150g cold water prawns – pre cooked, shell and head removed
1 romaine lettuce – wash, dry and roughly shred
4 large round tomatoes – cut into eighths
10-15 cm cucumber – cut into medium thick slices
4 pre boiled eggs – see method
1 red onion – thinly slice
1 yellow bell pepper – cut into small pieces or dice
1 large red chilli – thing slice, keep seeds in for spice (optional)
Method: To boil the eggs – bring a medium-sized sauce pan to the boil then carefully add the eggs one at a time into the water, take care not to drop them in too quickly or they will crack (remove and discard if they crack). Reduce heat so pan is gently boiling and cook for 10 minutes.
After this remove eggs and place them in a bowl of cold water to stop them cooking. Once cooled remove from water and set aside. To remove the shells take the egg and tap the egg against the worktop until it starts to crack, turn the egg and continue to tap so that you crack the egg all the way round (imagine a line round egg and follow it). Once you have cracked the egg all the way round the shell you should be able to gently pull the shell and membrane away from the egg.
Assemble the ingredients, layering them in a large salad bowl ready for the dressing.
For the Korean dressing
1 heaped dessert spoon gochujang chilli paste
1 dessert spoon dark soy sauce
1 dessert spoon clear honey
1 dessert spoon vinegar
1 heaped dessert spoon sesame seeds
2 teaspoons sesame oil
Method: Add all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well until combined. Cover and set aside at room temperature for 45-60 mins, to allow flavours to develop. Before serving mix well again, then drizzle over the salad, then mix well so it coats everything. Serve immediately and enjoy!
Ferret chef 
Published by