This hot and sour shrimp salad, known as Yam Goong, makes a perfect light summer dinner salad.
Spicy Thai Shrimp Salad (Yam Goong)
By Sue Lau | Palatable Pastime
Today I am sharing yet another Thai salad for #FishFriday. This is the perfect time of year for me to enjoy Thai food and salads especially, as the spicy nature is quite cooling.
You may find the name of this to be similar to tom yum goong soup which is hot and sour shrimp soup. Tom actually means boiled or soup so you can see that without that word it implies something cold, as this hot and sour shrimp salad is.
This particular salad is the first kind of Thai food I had ever eaten, a very long time ago at a restaurant in Melbourne Florida. I was in love with it instantly (and still am today although I make it now myself). And it is quite easy to make as well using precooked shrimp.
As is typical of Thai food, it embodies four distinct flavors: hot, sour, salty and sweet. These balance on the palate for perfect enjoyment of this kind of cuisine. The hot is represented by the fiery Thai chilies. Sour will generally be seen as the vinegar or in other dishes, as lime. Salty is the fish sauce, of course, which is made of fermented anchovies. And sweet would be the brown sugar (or palm sugar being used in Asia).
Spicy Thai Shrimp Salad (Yam Goong)

Ingredients
- 1/2 cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced
- 8 ounces iceberg lettuce
- 12 ounces large cooked peeled shrimp
- 1/2 ounce shredded fresh ginger
- 1 ounce thinly sliced onion
- 1 tablespoon minced lemongrass
- 1-2 fresh Thai chilies, thinly sliced (optional)
- 1/4 cup roasted chopped peanuts
- 1/4 cup chopped scallions
- 1/4 cup cilantro leaves
- 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tablespoons Thai sweet chili sauce
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic paste
Method:
- Whisk together the water, chili sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, fish sauce and garlic.
- Place lettuce in a dinner sized salad bowl (or on a plate) and arrange shrimp and other salad ingredients on top.
- Pour dressing over and serve.
From the kitchen of palatablepastime.com
Fish Friday Foodies
“Salads using Seafood”
Fish Friday for June is Salads using Seafood, hosted by Sidsel McOmie
Be sure to check out the other Fish Friday Foodies Bloggers this month!
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Would you like to join Fish Friday Foodies? We post and share new seafood/fish recipes on the third Friday of the month. To join our group please email Wendy at wendyklik1517@gmail.com. Visit our Facebook page and Pinterest page for more wonderful fish and seafood recipe ideas.
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This looks delicious Sue. I will definitely need to try this. I love your explanations of the cuisine.
This is one of my favorite salads, Sue. Full of flavor, crunch and color!
This sounds wonderful. Going on the menu very soon. Thanks for hosting this month Sue.
Thanks! Sidsel hosted this month. I just started the title post because there wasn’t one and I didn’t want to forget to add in.
wow, shrimp salad looks delicious, i really like shrimp