Pla Goong

"PLA" is kind of processing food, by using acid from lime juice, without cooking, normally it is for raw meat; beef or seafood, basically the process is the same as "YAM", and Goong means shrimp. Original this dish is made from live tiny shrimp krill but nowadays many Thai restaurants in Thailand use roasted or grilled shrimp to for this dish.

This dish is considering a healthy food and it doesn’t take a lot of time to prepare and make it, it’s perfect for people who have a busy life and love healthy and Thai food.

Ingredients

12                  Shrimp (size 31 -40)

2 - 3              Fresh chilli, chopped fine

3 tbsp            Lemongrass, chopped very fine (see picture)

3                    Shallots (about ¹⁄₃ cup), slice thin

8 leaves        Mints

1 tbsp            Kaffir Lime Leaves, chopped very fine (see picture)

1 tbsp            Nam Prik Pao or chilli paste with soya bean oil

?                    Sugar (there is only one brand of Nam Prik Pao in my city and it is pretty sweet so I don’t add more sugar in it.)

2 tbsp            Lime juice

Herb cuts

1 tbsp            Fish sauce

  

Instruction

1. Grill shrimp on pan grill or charcoal both sides until shrimp turns prink.
2. Combine fresh chilli, Nam Prik Pao, (sugar), lime juice and fish sauce and stir until sugar or Nam Prik Pao dissolved.
3. Add shrimp, lemongrass, shallots, mints and kaffir lime leaves. Mix well.
4. Serve with steamed rice or eat as appetizer or salad.

*** This dish can be served as appetizer, place each piece of shrimp on a rice cracker and put a small piece of lettuce between shrimp and the rice cracker to prevent the crackers being wet, or just simply place shrimp on a piece of belgain envide as a healthy finger food.