Crispy Morning Glory Salad Morning glory, aka pakboong, is a tasty dark leafy green usually used in stir-fries. This is myfavorite way to eat it—lightly battered with a light, tangy coconut dressing.Yes, it’s deep-fried, but because it’s a salad, that means it’s healthy, right?
Yum Pak Boong
Crispy Morning Glory Salad Morning glory, aka pakboong, is a tasty dark leafy green usually used in stir-fries. This is myfavorite way to eat it—lightly battered with a light, tangy coconut dressing.Yes, it’s deep-fried, but because it’s a salad, that means it’s healthy, right?
Ingredients
MAKES: 4 SERVINGS
Crispy Morning Glory
- 1½ qt 1.8 L canola or other high-temperature cooking oil
- 7 oz 200 g morning glory (stalk and leaves), cut into 3-inch (8-cm) pieces
- 2 cups 250 g cornstarch
- 1 cup 125 g all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1½ cups 360 ml ice-cold water
Dressing
- 2 tbsp 30 ml canola or other high-temperature oil
- 1 clove garlic finely chopped
- 1 –3 fresh Thai chilies sliced thin
- 6 medium shrimp peeled and deveined, sliced in half lengthwise and widthwise
- 1 shallot finely sliced
- ¼ cup 60 ml fresh lime juice
- ¼ cup 60 ml fish sauce
- ¼ cup 55 g palm sugar or brown sugar
- 2 tbsp 30 ml full-fat coconut milk
Garnish
- ½ cup 60 g thinly sliced red onion
- ¼ cup 30 g peanuts, crushed
- ¼ cup 4 g cilantro leaves
- 2 tbsp 10 g store-bought fried shallots
Instructions
- To make the crispy morning glory, heat the oil in a 4-quart (3.
- 8-L) Dutch oven to 375°F (190°C).
- While the oil is heating up, rinse the morning glory and drain in a colander until mostly dry.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the cornstarch, flour and baking soda.
- Measure out 1 cup (125 g) of the flour mixture and place it into a separate large bowl for dredging.
- Whisk the cold water into the remaining flour mixture until a thin pancake batter forms.
- Dredge the cut and rinsed morning glory in the dredging flour.
- Place in the batter and coat until a thin layer of the batter forms.
- Fry the pieces in two to three batches until golden brown and crispy, 2 to 4 minutes for each batch.
- Drain the morning glory on paper towels or a rack for a minute, then transfer to a large serving plate.
- To make the dressing, place a medium skillet over medium-high heat and let preheat for 1 minute.
- Swirl in the oil, then toss in the garlic, chilies and shrimp and sauté until the shrimp are just pink and opaque, 1 to 2 minutes, then turn off the heat.
- Using the residual heat of the pan, stir in the shallot, lime juice, fish sauce, sugar and coconut milk.
- Stir until the sugar is dissolved.
- Taste and adjust the seasoning if you’d like.
- To serve, arrange the morning glory in the center of the serving plate.
- At the very last minute before eating, dress the salad with the dressing, keeping the shrimp and shallot pieces on top of the morning glory.
- Garnish with the red onion, crushed peanuts and cilantro, then sprinkle the store-bought fried shallots on top.