Rainbow Salad…a’ la BurmaSuperstar

As promised, here’s the recipe I found online that resembles the Burma Superstar Rainbow Salad. You’ll need a bit of time to make it because it’s 20+ ingredients and many of the spices/ingredients are toasted individually to bring out their flavor…but it’s worth it in the end if you have an afternoon to spare!  (…and to be honest I didn’t include EVERY ingredient & tweaked the recipe a bit…adding raw tuna & shredded chicken and omitting the raw potato. You can find the yellow bean powder at Whole Foods, which was my biggest challenge ingredient)

burma superstar rainbow salad
looked so boring here, but OH SO AMAZING when mixed together with the dressing

BURMA SUPERSTAR’S RAINBOW SALAD
Serves 2-4 People

INGREDIENTS
For the salad
½ green papaya, julienned
1 cup cabbage, julienned
¼ cup Cilantro, chopped
¼ Carrot, julienned
½ Tomato, diced
3 tsp dried shrimp, ground
1 medium size Onion, julienned (½ keep raw, ½ to be fried)
1 cup blanched vermicelli
½ small potato, cooked and diced
3 lightly blanched string beans (soaked in cold water for crisp), diced
2 cup canola oil
2 tsp yellow bean powder*
¼ pkg firm tofu
2 tsp crushed red chili flakes
4 cloves garlic, sliced

For the dressing
4 Tbs garlic & onion oil
2 tsp tamarind paste
1/3 cup hot water
3 tsp fish sauce
1/3 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar

DIRECTIONS
-Heat skillet. Roast yellow bean powder until golden. Remove.

-Wipe skillet with paper towel. Add 2 tsp canola oil and heat. Pan fry firm tofu until golden. Remove tofu and dice.

-Wipe skillet with paper towel. Add 2 tsp canola oil and heat. Add crushed red chili flakes and cook until aromatic.

-Wipe skillet with paper towel. Heat remaining oil for frying. Fry garlic slowly until golden (can take around 20 minutes so it’s not bitter) Remove. Using same oil fry onion until golden…again slowly. Remove onion and RESERVE OIL for dressing.

-Combine tamarind paste and hot water in a bowl. Add garlic & onion oil, fish sauce, salt, and sugar to make dressing. Mix well.

-Drizzle dressing over salad ingredients as needed and toss.

NOTE FROM CHEFS: Don’t be shy to mix the salad with your hands! In fact this salad is called “Hand Tossed Salad” in Burmese. Using your hands to mix the salad will bring out the flavors of each ingredient even more.
*Can be purchased at many Asian groceries.

Have a FABULOUS weekend…and if you have time make this salad!

You cannot direct the wind, but you can adjust the sails! 

 

2 Comments

  1. Hi Jeanine,
    Perfect timing as I’m looking for a great salad to serve with bbq red mullet tomorrow night! And I even have dried shrimp! But not yelliw bean powder, which I’ll get today.
    Also – no papaya. Would mango do instead?

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