I'm calling it: this will be my salad of summer. I have maybe never loved a salad as much as I love this one right now. It's got it all - papery thin fresh veggies, a whole lot of herbs, and a beautiful pile of crispy red curry rice that's golden on the outside, but soft and carby enough on the inside to still absorb some of the limey, garlicky, salty vinaigrette. OOF I am drooling just thinking about it.
This salad is a riff on Nam Khao which is a Laotian appetizer-style salad where the rice is fried into balls with fermented sausage, broken apart, and then eaten on a platter with lettuce cups. I tried a version of this at Hai Hai about a year ago and honestly have been thinking about trying to make it ever since.
If You Want More Protein: This is delicious with shrimp, salmon, or chicken. Pulled chunks of rotisserie chicken is an easy go-to in our house. We also rely heavily on the air fryer chicken and air fryer salmon for a moment like this!
If You Don't Have An Air Fryer: You can make the rice crispy in the oven! Coat the rice with the curry paste and oil, layer it in clumps on a baking sheet, and bake at 425 for 8-10 minutes on a rack towards the top of the oven.
If You're A Vegetarian: The only thing in the salad that is not vegetarian is the fish sauce and (sometimes) the curry paste. I use Thai Kitchen red curry paste which is naturally vegan. For a fish sauce sub, you could try making your own fish sauce. Soy sauce or coconut aminos would also be a possible sub – it wouldn't have the same flavor but would work in a similar way as the salty part of the dressing. You may need to dilute the dressing a bit if it's too strong, depending on your specific soy sauce.
If You Want To Prep Ahead: If you make a batch of the dressing, a big batch of rice, prep all your veggies ahead, and keep them all separate in the fridge, all you need is the 8 minutes to crispify the rice and you're ready to toss and go!
If you make this recipe, I'd love to hear in the comments how it turns out (and/or what delicious things you use it for)! You can also send me a picture on Instagram! I love seeing all the fun things you do with these recipes.
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