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+ servings
two bowls of spicy Thai sweet leaf salad with shrimp
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5 from 12 votes

Spicy Thai Sweet Leaf Salad | Yum Pak Wan Recipe

Spicy Thai sweet leaf salad or yum pak wan is a dish commonly found in Thai restaurants (in Thailand!). It's delicious, healthy and very high in vitamins! One of the best leafy green salad ever!
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time5 minutes
Course: Salad
Cuisine: Thai
Servings: 2 servings
Author: Nart

Ingredients

For The Salad

  • 200 grams sweet leaf
  • 5 shallots peeled and sliced
  • 2 jumbo shrimp or 10-12 medium ones peeled and deveined

For The Dressing

  • 5 cloves garlic
  • 10 red bird's eye chilies
  • tablespoons lime juice
  • 2 tablespoons fish sauce
  • tablespoons sugar

Instructions

  • Bring a pot of water to a boil. Make sure you add enough water to cook the shrimp and the sweet leaf.
  • Prepare the sweet leaf by rinsing and hand-breaking each shoot tip into bite-size pieces, starting from the very top. Once you get to the point where the shoot is hard to break, stop there and discard the rest of the shoot (if it's hard to break it'll be too chewy and unpleasant in the salad). Set aside.
  • Coarsely pound the garlic and chilies in a mortar. Add lime juice, fish sauce and sugar and pound until well mixed, making sure the sugar is fully dissolved. Taste-test the dressing and adjust as needed.
  • Once the water is boiling cook the sweet leaf in the water for about 1 minute and transfer to a large mixing bowl with a slotted spoon. Do the same with the shrimp but take 2-3 minutes this time.
  • Add the sliced shallots to the mixing bowl. Pour the salad dressing over and toss.
  • Split the salad into 2 dishes and serve.
  • This salad is perfect as a meal but you can also enjoy it with steamed rice.