Seafood salad

Ingredients

• 2 small/medium whole squid, cleaned, hood scored & cut into squares, tentacles cut in half
• Olive oil
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 2 tbsp water
• Zest and juice of 1 lime
• 1 long green chilli, finely chopped
• 1 small handful Thai basil leaves (or substitute coriander)
• 1 small handful mint
• ¼ green papaya, julienned (see Note)
• ½ punnet of cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 6 large cooked prawns, peeled and cut into thirds
• 2 cooked Moreton Bay or Balmain bugs, remove from shell and cut in half
• ¼ cup crispy fried shallots

Instructions

1. Preheat a grill pan or BBQ. Season the squid with a little salt and massage it in with a drizzle of olive oil. Add it to the hot pan or BBQ and flash fry for one minute on each side. Once cooked, remove from pan and allow to cool to room temperature.
2. In a large bowl combine fish sauce, sugar, water and lime juice and zest. Whisk together until the sugar dissolves, then add the chilli. Toss the herbs, papaya and tomato in the dressing. Add the seafood. Toss again. Serve topped with fried shallots.

Note

• If you can’t find green papaya, you could use green mango, cabbage or cucumber – something to give the salad texture.