This is a great salad to serve at a party. It is delicious and robust enough to last the whole evening without wilting. The secret is in the sour, tangy paste, which is a staple of Thai cooking and adds the salty depth of flavour you’ll find in so many of their dishes. I’m using super-hot bird’s eye chillies here, so do be careful. The sugar will soften the blow of the heat, but won’t hide it. If serving fewer numbers, the ingredients below can easily be halved.

4–6 tbsp dried shrimp, to taste

Sea salt

2 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped

2 red bird’s eye chillies, chopped

4 tbsp golden caster sugar

2 tbsp tamarind paste

4 tbsp fish sauce

Juice of 2 limes

2 large green papayas, peeled and grated, central core and seeds discarded (see tip
here
)

2 shallots, peeled and grated

2 carrots, peeled and grated

6 tbsp roughly chopped coriander

6 tbsp roughly chopped Thai basil

6 tbsp roughly chopped skinned peanuts

1
. Using a large pestle and mortar, grind the dried shrimp with a pinch of salt until it’s broken into small pieces. Add the garlic, chillies, sugar, tamarind paste and fish sauce and grind until the mixture has a paste-like consistency. Stir in the lime juice to loosen.

2
. Mix the papaya, shallots, carrots, coriander and basil together in a bowl.

3
. Toast the chopped peanuts, rolling them around in a dry pan with a pinch of salt for 2–3 minutes until golden. This will make the nuts sweeter and more intensely flavoured. (Don’t chop them too small or they will burn.)

4
. Add 6 tablespoons of the shrimp paste to the salad and toss really well. Taste and add a little more of the paste if needed. Garnish the salad with the peanuts and serve.

HOW TO PREPARE GREEN PAPAYA

Green papaya doesn’t look much from the outside but it has a unique flavour. The texture is very strong and durable, like a palm heart, so it takes the dressing but doesn’t wilt. To peel it, stand it up and cut down around the sides, as if paring an orange.

ROASTED RED PEPPER,
LENTIL AND HERB SALAD

SERVES 6–8

I love to add pulses to my salads as a way of bulking them up for a hungry crowd. That way they work as both vegetable and carbohydrate, freeing you up to concentrate on the main element – perhaps a lemony roast chicken, or butterflied leg of lamb grilled on the barbecue. Don’t dice the avocado until the last minute or it will discolour.

400g Puy lentils

2 litres hot vegetable stock

2 bay leaves

4 courgettes, trimmed

4 red peppers

Olive oil, for roasting

350g sunblush/semi-dried tomatoes in olive oil

2 ripe avocados

Juice of 1 lemon

8 tbsp chopped chives

Bunch of basil, leaves roughly torn

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1
. Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6.

2
. Boil the lentils in the stock with the bay leaves for about 15 minutes until just cooked. Drain and leave to cool in a large bowl.

3
. Meanwhile, chop the courgettes and peppers into bite-sized pieces. Toss with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place in a single layer on a roasting tray and place in the oven for 12–15 minutes until tender and slightly colouring at the edges. Leave to cool.

4
. Drain the tomatoes, reserving the oil, and chop into small chunks. Add 1–2 tablespoons of the reserved oil to the lentils. Add the tomatoes, courgettes and red peppers and season well.

5
. To serve, dice the avocado and stir into the cooled lentils along with the lemon juice, chives and basil.

HOW TO SEASON LENTILS

Pulses, such as lentils, beans and chickpeas, are great bargain ingredients, but have a protective membrane that can toughen if seasoned too early. For this reason, always wait until they are cooked before you season them.

CHOPPED SALAD

SERVES 6–8

Another robust salad that’s pretty much a meal in itself. You may not think you like chicory because it is quite a bitter leaf, but trust me, it works really well here as a foil to the sweetness of the cheese and tomatoes. Don’t add the vinaigrette until you are ready to serve or the lettuce will go limp.

2 banana shallots, peeled and very finely sliced

250g baby plum tomatoes or cherry tomatoes, halved

Olive oil, for drizzling

4 romaine lettuces, shredded

4 small heads of red chicory, shredded

2 Romano or regular red peppers, deseeded and diced

2 × 400g tins chickpeas, drained and rinsed

300g Edam cheese, sliced into matchsticks

250g salami, sliced into strips

Juice of about ½ lemon

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 tbsp dried oregano, to garnish

FOR THE SALAD DRESSING

2 tbsp sherry vinegar

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp caster sugar

2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

180ml olive oil

1
. Place the shallots and tomatoes in a large serving bowl. Season with salt and pepper, then drizzle with a little olive oil. Toss to mix evenly and leave to stand.

2
. To make the dressing, mix together the sherry vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and sugar and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Add the garlic and mix well. Slowly pour in the olive oil, whisking continuously until thick and glossy. Taste and season, adjusting the oil or vinegar level as necessary.

3
. Mix the lettuce, chicory, peppers, chickpeas, cheese and salami into the bowl with the tomatoes. Toss to mix, then season with a little more salt and pepper.

4
. When ready to serve, squeeze over the juice of half a lemon and add three-quarters of the salad dressing. Mix thoroughly and taste, adding a little more lemon juice and/or salad dressing as necessary. Sprinkle over the dried oregano, toss once more and serve.

HOW TO STOP YOUR CHOPPING BOARD SLIPPING

An unstable chopping board is a dangerous one; to keep it securely in place, wet a dishcloth or kitchen towel and place it underneath the board to stop it from slipping around.

GREEN BEAN SALAD
WITH MUSTARD DRESSING

SERVES 6–8

Green beans seem to have replaced frozen peas as the ubiquitous all-year-round vegetable. This is a very simple way of jazzing them up during the summer months. Roasting the garlic brings out its natural sweetness so it has none of the astringency you find in the raw bulb.

1kg green beans, topped and tailed

200g flaked almonds

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

FOR THE DRESSING

2 small heads of garlic

2–3 tbsp white wine vinegar

2 tsp Dijon mustard

2 tsp runny honey

150ml olive oil

1
. Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas 4.

2
. Wrap the garlic for the dressing in foil and roast in the oven for 20–25 minutes until soft. Remove and leave to cool.

3
. Meanwhile, blanch the green beans by plunging them in plenty of boiling salted water for 1½ minutes until their rawness has been removed but they are still crunchy. Refresh immediately under cold running water, then drain and leave to one side.

4
. Lightly toast the almonds in a medium-hot dry frying pan for 2–3 minutes until golden. Leave to cool.

5
. Mix together the cooled beans and almonds with a little seasoning.

6
. Remove the flesh from the garlic heads and mash with 1 tablespoon of the white wine vinegar until a smooth paste is formed. Add the mustard and honey and mix well. Pour in the olive oil in a slow drizzle, stirring constantly to thicken. Taste and season as necessary, adding a little more vinegar if needed.

7
. Dress the green beans, toss to coat well and serve.

HOW TO MIX DRESSINGS EASILY

Instead of whisking the ingredients in a bowl, put them in a jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake vigorously. This emulsifies the mixture more easily than whisking, and any leftover dressing can be stored in the jar for future use.

FRESH PRAWN ROLLS

MAKES 24–28 ROLLS

I grew up loving spring rolls, but travelling around Asia gave me a new respect for this really simple dish. The prawns give a really nice sweetness to the wraps, but you need to think about texture too. That’s why I’ve included baby gem lettuce and carrots – to provide some crunch. You can make these rolls in advance and take them out of the fridge seconds before your guests arrive.

200g dried vermicelli or fine rice noodles

500g cooked king prawns, peeled, deveined and roughly chopped (
see here
)

2 baby gem lettuces, shredded

4 spring onions, trimmed and chopped

2 large carrots, peeled and grated

4 tbsp chopped coriander

4 tbsp chopped Thai basil

4 tbsp chopped mint

Juice of 2 limes

24–28 round rice paper sheets (16cm diameter)

FOR THE DIPPING SAUCE

4 tbsp caster sugar

4 tbsp rice vinegar

180ml fish sauce

2 red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

2 spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced

4 tbsp chopped coriander

4 tbsp chopped mint

1
. To rehydrate the vermicelli noodles, soak in boiling water for 3–4 minutes; drain and refresh under running cold water. When cool, shake off any excess water and leave to one side.

2
. To make the dipping sauce, mix together the sugar, rice vinegar, fish sauce, chillies and garlic. Mix well, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Add the remaining ingredients. Mix, taste and adjust as necessary, then set aside.

3
. To make the rolls, roughly chop the noodles in a bowl. Mix in the prawns, lettuce, spring onion, carrot, coriander, basil and mint. Add the lime juice along with 2 tablespoons of the dipping sauce and mix together. Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding a little more sauce if needed.

4
. Dip a rice paper in a bowl of hot water for about 20 seconds until softened and pliable. Splash a board with a little water before placing a rice paper on it (this will stop it from sticking), then put a spoonful of mixture into the centre of the rice paper and fold the sides over the filling. Roll up tightly into a spring roll shape and repeat with the remaining mixture and rice papers.

5
. Serve the rolls with the dipping sauce on the side.

HOW TO MAXIMISE CITRUS JUICE

To get the maximum amount of juice from a lemon or lime, roll it hard under your palm for a minute before juicing.