Thai Chopped Salad with Blender Peanut Dressing and Jammy Eggs

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

A crisp, cooling Thai-style salad built around one very good dressing: peanut butter, lime, fish sauce and palm sugar whizzed smooth in a blender until it pours like cream. Spoon it over cold lettuce, shaved cucumber, sweet tomato and 7-minute eggs with custardy centres, then shower the whole plate with crushed roasted peanuts and herbs. It's the yum yai idea — a big Thai salad meant to be shared — scaled to a weeknight and done in under half an hour.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup natural creamy peanut butter (unsweetened)
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp palm sugar or light brown sugar
• 1 tbsp unseasoned rice vinegar
• 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• 1 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
• 1 tsp sambal oelek or sriracha, plus more to taste
• 5 tbsp warm water, plus more as needed

• 4 large eggs, cold from the fridge
• 1 head butter or Bibb lettuce (about 8 oz), leaves torn
• 2 cups shredded romaine or green cabbage
• 1 English cucumber, halved lengthwise and sliced on the bias
• 2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 cup shredded carrot
• 3 scallions, thinly sliced
• 1 small shallot, very thinly sliced
• 1 cup bean sprouts (optional)

• 1/2 cup roasted salted peanuts, coarsely crushed
• 1/2 cup cilantro leaves and tender stems
• 1/4 cup torn mint or Thai basil leaves
• 1 lime, cut into wedges
• Flaky salt and coarsely ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Bring a small saucepan of water (about 2 inches deep) to a rolling boil over high heat. Lower the 4 cold eggs in with a spoon, adjust the heat to a steady simmer, and cook exactly 7 minutes for jammy centres (7 1/2 if your eggs are extra large). Meanwhile fill a bowl with ice water.
2. Transfer the eggs straight to the ice water and leave them 5 minutes, until fully cold. Peel under a thin stream of running water, starting at the wide end; set aside.
3. Make the dressing: combine the peanut butter, lime juice, fish sauce, palm sugar, rice vinegar, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, sambal and 5 tablespoons warm water in a blender. Blend on high for 45–60 seconds, scraping down once, until completely smooth and glossy.
4. Check the consistency and the balance. The dressing should ribbon slowly off a spoon and coat it thickly — add warm water 1 tablespoon at a time if it's too stiff. Taste: it wants to be equally salty, sour and sweet with a peanut backbone. Adjust with more lime for sharpness, fish sauce for salt, sugar for roundness, or sambal for heat. You should have about 1 1/4 cups.
5. Slice the shallot paper-thin and soak it in cold water for 10 minutes to take off the raw edge, then drain well and pat dry.
6. Build the salad on a large platter or in a wide shallow bowl: scatter the torn butter lettuce and shredded romaine as a base, then pile on the cucumber, tomatoes, carrot, scallions, drained shallot and bean sprouts. Season lightly with flaky salt.
7. Spoon about two-thirds of the peanut dressing over the vegetables in wide ribbons — don't toss it into submission; you want pools of dressing to find. Serve the rest in a small bowl alongside.
8. Halve the eggs lengthwise and nestle them cut side up around the salad. Season the yolks with flaky salt and black pepper.
9. Finish with the crushed peanuts, cilantro and mint, and tuck lime wedges around the edge. Serve immediately, tossing at the table so every leaf picks up dressing.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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