Yum Talay is a spicy seafood salad. Yum means to combine hot and sour ingredients. Talay means the sea.
I love anything spicy and seafood. I mean, what an amazing combination for the palate! This is by far my favorite salad, next to papaya salad. It has as similar taste to papaya salad, spicy, sour, sweet and salty. The flavors are perfectly balanced and compliments the seafood.
It’s all about the dressing.
One of the key ingredients is tamarind concentrate. Tamarind is a sweet and sour fruit and you can buy the concentrate at the Asian grocery store or online. The concentrate is made from straining the tamarind paste and water. The tamarind along with lime juice will give the salad the sour taste.
Another key ingredient is chili paste in soya bean oil. This chili paste adds a little sweetness and spice but it’s not too hot which is why you still need to add freshly chopped Thai chilies. For the saltiness, that’s where fish sauce comes in. Fish sauce is used in lots of Asian dishes. I know the smell is quite strong and let me warn you if you’ve never used fish sauce before. But despite the smell, it adds wonderful flavor to many dishes.
You can make this seafood salad as spicy as you want. I use about 5 chilies but feel free to adjust to your liking. The same goes the other ingredients for the dressing. If you want it more sweet, then add more sugar. More sour, then add more lime.
What can you put in the salad?
You can put any kind of seafood in this salad. I like shrimp and squid. I buy the squid with the pineapple carvings in the frozen section. It makes for an elegant presentation. Then I drop it in boiling water for a minute or two. You don’t want to over cook the squid or else it will turn rubbery. The same goes for the shrimp. Better yet, you can use the pre-cooked shrimp and that will save you time.
For the vegetables, I like them to be crunchy so I use Persian cucumbers, shredded carrots, red bell peppers and Chinese celery.
The best thing is that it’s so easy to make and you can prepare it ahead of time. Pour the dressing and mix the ingredients just before serving. This way the vegetables will stay crisp.
Make it for an elegant dinner salad. Make it for your next potluck, either way it will be the star of the party. When you make this salad, it will tantalize everyone’s tastebuds and it WILL go quickly.
Yum Talay is a spicy seafood salad.
- 1/4 C Tamarind concentrate
- 5 T sugar
- 2 T Chili paste with soya bean oil
- 1/4 C fish sauce
- 1/4 C lime juice approx 2 limes
- 1 lb shrimp boiled
- 1 lb squid boiled
- 3 Persian cucumbers chopped into bite size
- 1 red bell pepper chopped into bite size
- 1 medium carrot shredded
- 1 red onion sliced
- 2 C Chinese celery chopped
- 1 C cilantro chopped
- 5 thai chilies chopped
Bring a pot of water to a hard boil. Add the shrimp and cook for about 3 minutes or until it turns pink and the tail starts to curl in.
Boil the squid for about 1 minute then put it into an ice bath to stop it from further cooking.
Add all the ingredients into a mixing bowl.
Add the dressing and mix well, just before you are ready to serve.
