How to make goong chea nam pa - raw prawns soaked in fish sauce
 
Prep time
Total time
 
Goong che nam pa (raw prawns with spicy garlic and fish sauce dressing). The prawns should be the freshest prawns you can find, because they're traditionally eaten raw (or blanched if you prefer). The dish is popularly enjoyed amongst friends and eaten with an icy cold drink to temper the exhilarating chili heat.
Author:
Recipe type: Salad
Cuisine: Thai
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • 500 grams of fresh prawns (or 12 king prawns)
  • 10 hot chilies (finely chopped)
  • 5 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
  • 12 thin slices of garlic (sliced lengthways)
  • 1½ tsp of palm sugar (or brown sugar)
  • 1 large coriander root and stem (finely chopped)
  • 2 Tbsp of fish sauce
  • 1 large lemon (or lime)
  • 12 mint leaves
  • ½ a head of cabbage (thinly sliced)
  • 1 bitter melon (thinly sliced)
Instructions
  1. First, prepare the prawns. Carefully and neatly remove the heads and body shells. Keep the tail tip shell intact for presentation. Cut along the back of the prawns to remove the vein and then 'butterfly' them so that they lay flat. View the demo photo above as a guide. If you prefer, after you've peeled and butterflied the prawns, you can quickly blanch them in hot water for about 20 seconds (or longer) to semi-cook them.
  2. Arrange the prawns on a plate, cover them with glad wrap, and place them in the fridge while you prepare the other ingredients.
  3. Next, finely chop the chilies, garlic and coriander root.
  4. Slice the lemon/lime into wedges.
  5. If your palm sugar is in a rock form, pound a small amount in a mortar and pestle so that you can measure it easier and use it.
  6. Thinly slice the cabbage.
  7. Thinly slice the bitter melon into rings and remove the seeds.
  8. Mix the chopped chilies, garlic and coriander root together in a bowl.
  9. Add the fish sauce, palm sugar, and squeeze the lemon juice into the bowl, and mix together well. Adjust the flavours to suit your preference. You're aiming for a balanced yet intense flavour of sour, spicy, fish-saucy with a hint of sweetness.
  10. On a serving plate, arrange a generous bed of thinly sliced cabbage. Then, arrange slices of the bitter melon on top of the cabbage.
  11. Arrange the butterfly prawns neatly on top of the cabbage and bitter melon.
  12. Place a thinly sliced piece of garlic on top of each prawn.
  13. Place a mint leaf on top of each piece of garlic.
  14. Your dish is now ready to be served and eaten. You can serve the dish with a bowl of the chili dressing/sauce on the side, or poured on top of the prawns.
  15. Enjoy this delectable dish with steaming hot sticky rice or sourdough or baguette, and icy cold bottles of beer to counter the fiery chili heat!
Notes
You can optionally serve the dish with extra herbs (mint, coriander, etc.), edible flowers, or other fresh vegetables, eg: lettuce, rocket, etc.
Recipe by Padaek at http://padaek.com/make-goong-che-nam-pa-raw-prawns-soaked-fish-sauce-dressing/