Thai One-Bite Salad

Our esteemed VI posted this back in 2004:

We followed with one bite, one bite salad. Here finally, Arun's justified if every, every so slightly, their higher price. The one bite salad, a mix of dried coconut, shrimp and stuff came on a real betel leaf unlike Spoon Thai's dish which comes on lettuce. The betel leaf numbs the mouth. It is cool to loose sensation in your mouth for about 60 seconds, but while the Condiment Queen had no quibble with this dish, I gotta say it missed some of the zing of Spoon's. Spoon uses bits of lime, and the lime peel included gives the dish a dose of bitterness that makes the dish so much more. Arun's was good.

I haven't had the One-Bite salad at Arun's, but love the versions at Spoon, Yum Thai (Forest Park) and at P.S. Bangkok (North Clark, it's off-menu or sometimes listed as a special). You may recall that Chicago Mag named Arun's the best appetizer in Chicago last year, to some chortling here and in their own comments section:

http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magaz ... i=1#artanc

Can't say that I've seen tamarind-coconut sauce in the other versions, but it does sound decadent.

I've made a loosely reverse-engineered version of PSB's, which is vegetarian - it includes both shredded mango and pineapple, chopped fresh chili, dried spices, brown sugar, toasted coconut and peanuts, lime juice and rind, and scallion, from what I can tell. I never gave much thought to what type of green it was being served on, but betel leaf makes sense, though I don't recall the numbing sensation; I've substituted hearts of romaine for the structural support in the past.

My questions:

- does anyone make this at home? If so what are your favorite recipes?

- do you offer a supplementary dipping sauce?

- what do you use to plate the "bites?" If betel leaf, where do you get it?

- what other types of wraps for this type of salad have you seen, either abroad or here?

Hi,

Manee Thai has a one-bite salad, referred to there as Seven Buddies, with blanched collard green as the platform.

(Gary Wiviott)


Look at the chilis in the background, which you would never see at Spoon Thai. Or at least I would never request them.

Regards,

I have seen the One Bite salad referred to as Meng Come on Thai restaurant menus on the west coast where it seems to be a pretty popular menu item.

That was me with the "Jeez" comment on the Chicago magazine site in reference to one bite salad as a part of the wildly overpriced Arun Thai meal.

More importantly, I have often made this lovely little one-bite salad - which I've seen on a few Thai menus as "Mieng Kham" and "Miang Kham" and in a few Thai cookbooks, including David Thompson's spectacular "Thai Food" and one of those $5.99 Borders sale specials.

The all important Betel leaves - Piper Sermentosum is the scientific name, cha-phloo in Thai, la lot in Vietnamese - can be sometimes obtained at the Thai Grocery - call first - and they sometimes have Miang Kham "kits" with all the necessary goodies, which include: limes (with skin and pith), shallots, toasted unsweetened coconut, roasted peanuts, dried shrimp, thai finger chilis, ginger and the incredible sauce.

The sauce is a fantastic combo of shrimp paste, tamarind paste, galangal, ginger, grated coconut, palm sugar, and fish sauce, simply heated through.

The betel leaves are a special part of this and well worth the drive up to Argyle.

Marc

Santander wrote:You may recall that Chicago Mag named Arun's the best appetizer in Chicago last year, to some chortling here and in their own comments section:

Arun One Bite Salad

Though I've seen this composed version on the menu, it's probably worth noting that at P.S. Bangkok, Sue also has an off-menu item she used to refer to as "seven kinds". It's basically the same thing, just deconstructed. Or never constructed in the first place, take your pick. There's no sauce or leaf involved, but she brings out little dishes with peanuts, shallot, ginger, dried shrimp, lime, lemongrass and chiles, and you build your own bite in your hand and pop it like a snack food. I'm guessing she never listed it for fear of giving the impression that she was just selling her mise... which I suppose she is in this case ... but it's still an old favorite.

Betel leaves can generally be purchased at many of the Indian grocery stores on Devon. You may want to ask for either betel leaves or, more commonly, "paan leaves."

Jyoti

Thank you all! I made a good batch tonight using Cathy2's collard green hint - and of all things, I ran into David Hammond, ALSO buying greens related to Cathy2 (!) at a tiny corner store here in Oak Park (!) I'll let David tell his home-cookin' story for the night.

I tried both blanched and raw collard green squares (cut out with kitchen shears), and we liked raw much more. Unblanched greens have a little more of the bitterness for the contrast I was seeking, and held up well against the toppings. Since the versions I like best aren't served with a separate sauce, and since I only had fresh jalapenos (which turned out to be very mild) instead of thai chilis, I lightly dressed the mango and pineapple shreds with lime juice and rind and a tiny bit of hot sriracha. I used well-toasted sweetened coconut instead of brown sugar in the lime juice since that's what I had on hand.

They turned out very good and tasty - I would have taken pictures, but I left my camera in my car and didn't feel like trudging back through the slush. I will repeat and document soon.

Hi,

You make me feel omnipresent!

Once you find the combination of one bite salad you like best, I look forward to your recipe.

I look forward to Hammond's time travel report as well.

Regards,

Gary - did you dig Arun's version, or not so much? Those are relatively sparsely populated leaves compared to others I've seen out and in my own kitchen.

Santander wrote:Gary - did you dig Arun's version, or not so much? Those are relatively sparsely populated leaves compared to others I've seen out and in my own kitchen.

Yes, I enjoyed Arun's one bite salad. In checking my very sparse notes from that meal that was the only item I singled out as being particularly tasty.

Happy for the opportunity to trot out..............For 1/3 the money Arun's would be the best Thai restaurant in Cleavland. (maybe)

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

You make me feel omnipresent!

Once you find the combination of one bite salad you like best, I look forward to your recipe.

I look forward to Hammond's time travel report as well.

Regards,

Salt Pork Digression

Here is the beautiful hunk of salt pork that C2 gifted me with, and that I added to a mix of collars, curly mustard and turnip greens.





One boil was all it took to remove excessive saltiness; I then browned the sliced pork, Louisiana-style, and let the pieces cook over medium heat with greens, which came out bright green and slightly lubricated but not at all greasy, almost crunchy, and bitter sweet.

This is the Meng Come as served at Sai Jai Thai, a terrific little Thai storefront on O'Farrell Street in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco. If I recall, the dish was around $7 there.



Sai Jai Thai
771 O'Farrell St
San Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 673-5774

Here is a recent photo of One-Bite Salad from Spoon Thai that is using small green lettuce leaves in place of betel leaf:



Best,
Michael