6 medium potatoes, boiled (as you would for potato salad)

250 g (8 oz.) fresh bean sprouts

500 g (1 lb) green beans, topped and tailed and cut on the diagonal in half

3 carrots, peeled and cut into slices about 2-3mm thick

1/2 small cabbage, shredded into 1 cm (about 1/2 inch) pieces

1 green cucumber, skin scored lengthways with a fork and cut into thin slices

6 hard boiled eggs, each cut into four wedges

Basmati rice to serve

 

Peanut Sauce:

2 T peanut oil

2 med or 1 large clove garlic, finely minced

2 tsp freshly grated ginger

2 tsp Asian sweet chilli sauce (Sambal Oelek)

1.5 T brown sugar

½-3/4 C crunchy peanut butter

1 tsp Thai fish sauce

2 T soy sauce

~3 T water

juice of ½-1 lime (depending on how juicy)

Pour boiling water over sprouts in a colander, then run under cold water; leave to drain.  Cook green beans in lightly salted boiling water until tender but still slightly crisp.  Do the same with the carrots.  Blanch cabbage briefly (about a minute) in boiling, salted water, drain and refresh under cold water.  Scrape peel from boiled potatoes and slice in 8-10ml (1/4-1/2) inch slices.  Cook rice… I prefer cooking in the microwave, two cups water to 1 cup un-rinsed basmati rice… cook on high for 14-15 minutes. Stir with fork and let sit for a couple of minutes before serving.

On a large platter arrange vegetables like this:  Make a bed over the bottom using the cabbage.  Put a row of cucumber slices overlapping all around the edge.  Place the potato slices over the cabbage, then the sprouts, then the carrots and green beans and finally the egg wedges on top.  All vegetables should be served at room temperature!

Let people serve themselves from the vegetables then serve Basmati rice on the side.  Drizzle peanut sauce over all.

Method for Peanut Sauce

Heat oil, add garlic and ginger, cooking gently. Add remaining ingredients except lime juice and heat, stirring as mixture becomes thick.  Cook gently until sauce thickens then add lime juice. Adjust seasonings to taste, adding more salt or lime juice or sugar to suite your taste.  The taste should be a balance of all three, and the fish sauce should not be obvious, it just gives an underlying depth of flavour to the sauce.  Sauce will thicken further as it cools, so add more water if you find it too thick.