This recipe, adopted from Alison Roman at New York Times Cooking highlights how good celery is!
As autumn morphs into winter in the southern hemisphere, the celery is thick, plump and juicy from a stellar growing season this year. This celery salad is delicious and refreshing in any season; it adds crunch and freshness alongside a hot, baked dish in winter or makes up a zesty main in the summer heat!
A couple of notes on the ingredients. Not all fish sauces are equal. The two listed below are both Vietnamese made from only achovies, salt and water and fermented in traditional wooden barrels. The taste speaks for itself. All other fish sauces I come across add all sorts of unnecessary ingredients. To find Redcoat and Son, look online, at your health food store or in large, very good Asian grocers. Activated cashews are expensive but they are really worth it in this salad as they have a crunch that is very difficult to achieve from roasting raw cashews which tend to burn.
Enjoy!
Thai-inspired Celery Salad
Ingredients
Salad
Stalks of 1 head of celery, washed, ends and leaves trimmed
1 small to medium red onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 large bunch (or two small bunches) of fresh coriander, roots trimmed, washed, spun and air dried
1-2 fresh red chillies, stems trimmed and finely chopped (optional)
6-8 activated cashews, broken into smaller pieces (per serving for topping)
Dressing
Juice of 1 lime or lemon (about 3-4 tbs)
2 tbs Redcoat or Son fish sauce
1 tbs neutral tasting raw honey
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed (optional)
Method
Cut each celery stalk in to two (or three) horizontal lengths and slice. Place in a large bowl. Chop the red onion, coriander leaves and stems and finely chop the chili. Add to the celery and combine.
Juice a lime or lemon and add to a glass jar. Add the fish sauce, honey and garlic. Mix well and make sure the honey fully dissolves. Taste and adjust to your preference adding more lime for sourness, fish sauce for saltiness/umami flavour or honey for sweetness.
Serve the salad with about a tablespoon or two of dressing and top with activated cashews.
Store the salad and dressing in glass, airtight containers separately in the refrigerator. This salad saves well for at least 2-3 days.