Posted on Wed 4th June 2025
Thai Rice Salad
Craving a vibrant Thai dish that’s as beautiful as it is delicious? Try this Southern Thai Rice Salad - Khao Yum!
Cuisine
Thai
Time
30 mins
Servings
3-4

Ingredients
For the Rice:
- 1 cup jasmine rice (washed)
- 2 tsp butterfly pea flower tea
- Optional: water from boiled red cabbage + pinch of baking soda (as a colour alternative)
For the Dressing (Nam Budu):
- 2 Thai shallots, peeled
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 stalk lemongrass (outer layer removed, finely chopped)
- 1 tsp neutral oil
- 2 tbsp fermented fish sauce (budu)
- 1 tbsp palm sugar
- 1 tbsp tamarind paste
For the Salad:
- 1 small carrot, julienned
- A few long beans (or green beans), finely sliced
- Red cabbage, finely shredded
- 1 grapefruit or pomelo, segmented
- 1–2 green bird's eye chilies, finely chopped (optional)
- 1 stalk lemongrass, thinly sliced
- Handful of toasted desiccated coconut
- 2 tbsp dried fermented shrimp
- Salt, to taste
Method
Preparation
Prepare the Blue Rice
Steep dried butterfly pea flowers in boiling water for 5–10 mins until deep blue. (Use a reusable teabag for easy removal!)
Let the coloured water cool slightly. Pour over washed jasmine rice. The water line should be about a fingernail’s width above the rice.
Cook as normal: bring to boil, simmer for 10 mins, then rest off the heat (lid on) for 10 mins.
TIP: No butterfly pea flower? Boil red cabbage, add a pinch of baking soda to the purple water, and voilà – blue!
Cooking
Toast the Garnishes
Dry-fry dried fermented shrimp in a hot pan until even drier. Pound into a floss using a pestle & mortar.
Dry-fry desiccated coconut until golden brown. Stir constantly and watch carefully – burnt coconut is no good!
Make the Dressing
Bash and finely chop garlic, shallots, and lemongrass.
Pound into a rough paste using a pestle & mortar.
Heat a little oil in a pan and fry the paste for 1–2 mins to release the aromatics.
Add fermented fish sauce, palm sugar, and tamarind paste. Simmer for 5–10 mins until slightly thickened.
FLAVOUR CHECK: You want salty, sweet and sour – adjust to taste.
Assemble the Salad
Start with a mound of cooled blue rice in the centre of your plate.
Arrange each salad component around the rice in neat, separate piles – red cabbage, carrot, beans, grapefruit, lemongrass, chilies.
Top with toasted coconut and shrimp floss.
Enjoy!