Southern Thai rice salad (Khao yam pak tai )

Southern Thai rice salad or Khao yam pak tai; ข้าวยำปักไต้ in Thai. I would like to thank you, Christian Kell from Germany for introducing me to try this recipe. I have never had it before. I look up on the recipe and it looks delicious and good for your health but lot of preparation. It is rice salad which has lot of herbs and vegetables inside the dish and there is dressing called BU-DO sauce to have with salad. I tried to mix BU-DO sauce to have with the salad. It came out fishy and I didn't like the smell of it. I learn to make the sauce from shrimp paste. It turned out good and I love it. It is very interesting flavor of the food. I would love to try the real one in Thailand. I cooked rice from cumin and the butterfly peas "Dok Un Sun: ดอกอัญชัน". What a colourful food that I ever cook and beautiful. Thank you Khun Bongbung for sharing the recipe at http://jazzy-bong.bloggang.com/ . Her cooking blog is amazing.

Ingredients for the sauce:
1) 2 Tbsp shrimp paste
2) 2 Tbsp palm sugar
3) 1 cup of water

Vegetables for the side dish:
1) 2 cups cooked rice
2) 1/3 cup toasted grated coconut
3) 1 cup bean sprout
4) 1 Tbsp dried chili or fresh chili ( thinly sliced )
5) 3 stocks lemongrass, thinly sliced
6) 3 kaffir lime leaves, thinly sliced
7) 1 cup long green beans, thinly sliced
8) 1 cup shredded mango or pomelo

Preparation:
1) It is the butterfly peas "Dok Un Sun in Thai. I boiled with hot water for 5-10 minutes to get the blue colour then I bring the water to cook the rice.



2) This is cumin, peeled and wash well. Cut into small pieces then bring to crush into the mortar. Mix with the water . Bring the mixture to strain through a very fine sieve or cheesecloth. Bring the yellow water from cumin to cook the rice.


3) While you are cooking the rice. You can mix the khao yam dressing. Pour water and add shrimp paste into the pot on medium heat.
4) Add palm sugar.
5) Stir well until palm sugar dissolved.
6) Simmer for 5-10 minutes until the sauce is getting thick.
7) Wash all vegetables.
8) I got grated coconut from the Asian market. It's frozen grated.
9) Put grated coconut into a pan over medium-low heat. Stir constantly until coconut turn dark brown.
10) Or it's gold. This step take sometime to toast it. But it add the flavor to the dish very nicely.
11) Slice lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, long green beans. Shred green mango. Set aside to arrange on the serving dish.
12) Place cooked rice in the center of the serving plate. Following all vegetables into the side of the plate.
13) Before you eat, stir the dressing and pure on top of the dish. If you prefer sour taste, you can serve with lime wedge on the plate.
14) Mix gently and enjoy your Khao Yam Pak Tai.