Thai Express Salad and an Oscar award, well almost...

Colorful Verrine Thai Salad

One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating. ~Luciano Pavarotti and William Wright, Pavarotti, My Own Story

When people are dining at our place I always take an ample and careful contemplation on what menu to serve. I take meticulous preparation seeing to it that from entrée to main course and down to dessert will give my guests a pleasurable dining experience. And If the word culinary saddism exist I would proudly claim I am one. For I find extreme pleasure in cooking for other people . Seeing the satisfaction and smile on their faces is enough to make me happy.

Growing up as a teenager, I don't remember how many times I sacrified staying late at night to help my mom and aunties prepare food for big gathering at home, while my sisters and cousins are enjoying their beauty-rest for the big day. So when I received the phone call of my sister-in-law yesterday, telling me she's coming over with some of her friends a bit impromptu at my place, I totally panicked. For preparing express menu is not really my cup of tea. And when I'm harrassed like this, my brain stops from functioning.

As I was totally lost in my kitchen, my eye was caught by the cookbook of Cyril Lygnac, a gift I got last year for my birthday. Let me say he is like the Jamie Oliver of France, good looking, sexy and young chef that become popular through his "cooking tele-reality" show. Two minutes browsing was enough for me to settle for this entrée.

Captivating Express Thai Salad

for the salad
100 g of vermicelli noodles (glass noodles) 1 courgette 2 carrots 50 g of bean sprouts 150 g of shrimps (cooked and without shells)

for the sauce
1 small ginger 1 tsp of soy sauce 2 tbsp of sesame oil 1 tsp of sesame seeds 3 tbsps of lime juice 1 tsp of honey

Cook the vermicelli or glass noodles in a big casserole with water as you would cook a pasta noodle. Let it cook for five minutes only then drain it. Wash it with cold running water to avoid from sticking. Wash and peel the carrots and courgette. Cut them in julienne strips. In a bowl mix all the vegetables together with the vermicelli noodles and cooked shrimps. For the sauce mix together all the ingredients in a small bowl and add just before serving.

Messy bean sprouts....


I got it!

My sincerest gratitude to Happy Cook and Gloria for giving me this award. Getting an award from the two awesome food bloggers that I admire is already like winning an Oscar for me :-) Thanks again my dear friends. Now I need to give my own award. There's to many of you and choosing will be difficult. I'm awarding this "Nice Matter Award" to Oggi (I can do that), Susan (Well Seasoned Cook), Tigerfish (Teczsape), Big boys oven and Ronell (my french kitchen). These are all the bloggers I truly admire.

Cheers!!

For my french readers, the french version of this verrine recipe is here: http://www.lesfoodies.com/news/recette/salade-thai-express-cyril-lignac

23 comments:

aforkfulofspaghetti said...

Beautiful! I haven't seen a verrine quite like this before..

Anonymous said...

oh i love this, looks healthy and delicious - Gail

Big Boys Oven said...

Look! look! Look! we got wishes for you . .. Happy Valentine's Day! may your day fill with lots of love... from us the boys!

Deborah said...

This is almost too pretty to eat!

Anonymous said...

Looks Very Yummy!

www.zaiqa.net

Cakespy said...

That looks delicious and very refreshing! And as for your award--so deserved: "we like you! We really like you!" (cue the music...)

Sylvia said...

I be in panic too, when I have last minute guest for dinner or lunch. Because , like you, I will give my guests a pleasurable experience too.
Your entre is absolutely gorgeous- You always stunning me , and congrats for the award

Mary said...

This is such a pretty dinner. And I almost have all the ingredients in my kitchen!

Rasa Malaysia said...

This looks absolutely delish...give me 3 cups full please, extra shrimp. :P

Terry at Blue Kitchen said...

Sounds delicious! And what beautiful photos. Glass noodles always add such a nice, elegant touch.

Gloria Baker said...

Dhanggit This food looks so yummy!!! My Mom loves it I go to her home and I show your Blog (love so) (and love your picture, is how a doll tell me!!) And love this food.
Im happy by your Award, enjoy!!!
xxxGloria

Brilynn said...

That salad looks fantastic! I like to have things planned out too, but it looks like you did an excellent job with little notice.

haze said...

This is good for my diet since I love seafoods and bean sprout though I hate ginger !

test it comm said...

Great looking salad! Nice photos. You can't really go wrong with a light and tasty salad with shrimp.

Sidney said...

Can I hire you as my cook? ;-)

tigerfish said...

Thx for the award! You are so good in your cooking, baking and photos that I should be admiring you instead.
Anyway, we learn from one another, right? :D

Oh for the love of food! said...

What a delightful salad this is, Dhanggit - not bad at all for an impromtu dinner! I love Thai flavors, just thinking about this salad and the dressing makes my mouth water!
Have a Happy Valentine's Day!

Emily said...

Beautiful salad!
I really love that combination of flavors.
I like to plan stuff out, too. I also am always helping out in the kitchen.

Finla said...

Wow i love this salade. Delicious and light

Oggi said...

dhanggit the shrimp salad is fantastic and I declare you a certified domestic godess!:)
And thank you for the award, you really made my day today (after a sort of minor unhappy events yesterday). xoxox

Rosie said...

Beautiful salad!

My congrats also on your award you really do deserve this!

Rosie x

Babette said...

Hmm, this looks good and easy to prepare. This will be nice for summer. :)

Susan said...

Nice is always in style. It doesn't surprise me that you have been acknowledged, dear Dhanggit, for your goodness. Thanks for passing along the award to me. Now, if you'll pass me a sparkling serving of that prawn cocktail, it would be even nicer. ; )