Pomelo Salad Recipe

Pomelo Salad Recipe

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

4 shallots, finely sliced

2 garlic cloves, finely sliced

1 large pomelo

1 tablespoon roasted peanuts

115 g cooked peeled prawns (shrimps)

115 g cooked crab meat

10-12 small fresh mint leaves

For the dressing:

2 tablespoons fish sauce

1 tablespoon palm sugar or light brown sugar

2 tablespoons fresh lime (calamansi) juice

For the garnish:

2 scallions, thinly sliced

2 fresh red chilies, seeded and thinly sliced

Fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves

Shredded fresh coconut (optional)

Method:

Make the dressing.  Mix the fish sauce, sugar and lime juice in a bowl.  Whisk well, then cover with clear film (plastic wrap) and set aside.  Heat the oil in a small frying pan, add the shallots and garlic and cook over a medium heat until they are golden.  Remove from the pan and set aside.  Peel the pomelo and break the flesh into small pieces, taking care to remove any membranes.  Grind the peanuts coarsely and put them in a salad bowl.  Add the pomelo flesh, prawns, crab meat, mint leaves and the shallot mixture.  Pour over the dressing, toss lightly and sprinkle with the scallions, chilies and coriander leaves.  Add the shredded coconut, if using.  Serve immediately.

Note: The pomelo is a large citrus fruit that looks rather like a grapefruit, although it is not, as is sometimes thought, a hybrid.  It is slightly pear-shaped with thick, yellow, dimpled skin and pinkish-yellow flesh that is both sturdier and drier than that of a grapefruit.  It also has a sharper taste.  Pomelos are sometimes known as "shaddocks" after the sea captain who brought them from their native Polynesia to the Caribbean.