Recipe: Low-carb Prawn Pad Thai Salad

Since I started my fitness journey last August 2016 I’ve been eating much healthier than before. I’ve cut out a lot of the processed foods I used to eat before and try to consciously opt for complex carbohydrates over simple carbs. The reason for this is because of my high-risk for developing Type II Diabetes later in life. Diabetes runs in my family, both on my maternal and paternal side then to top it off I had Gestational Diabetes in both pregnancies.

So yeah… really high risk.

I am human and sometimes I do slip up and have chocolates, cakes and biscuits but try to have a really small portion. After all, eating a healthy diet doesn’t mean eliminating treats 100% out of your diet. Healthy eating is about balance, sustainability and having a positive association with food. Basically if you eat a large slice of pizza (or the whole pizza), don’t put yourself on a massive guilt trip for it and ‘punish yourself’ by eating less the next day or putting your body through hours of cardio trying to ‘burn off’ the added calories. Instead acknowledge that you’ve been able to enjoy yourself that day with that meal and eat a little better the week ahead to balance it out. Remember, one pizza won’t make you fat nor will one salad make you healthy.

I’m currently increasing my calorie intake to build up my muscle size and strength. As my weight loss stalled in December (plateaued at 51.8kg despite me increasing workouts and cutting a few more calories) I decided to reverse diet (where your aim is to gradually add back the cals in an attempt to kickstart your metabolism) which is going well. I’ll be writing up a progress post soon and will be going in more detail about this on there. Look out for it!

To keep in line with my fitness journey and health & fitness theme I wanted to create a new foodie post. I haven’t done one in a while! I was scrolling on Pinterest and came across a fabulous low-carb pad thai salad recipe from The Londoner blog. I fell in love with it straight away but as I was missing some of the ingredients needed, I did a little improvisation and tweaked her recipe to make it work for me. Salads can become very calorific once you add those lovely creamy dressings so finding one without the additional calories was great! Plus, I love Asian-inspired foods (being Asian myself) I couldn’t wait to give it a try!

Ready in just 10 minutes.
5 super simple instructions.
Super easy. Super healthy.
Super tasty!
🙂

I used my Kenwood electric spiralizer from AO.com – it’s actually amazing for just £35. I did find it tricky at first because I’m not always a big manual reader and didn’t use it properly at the start. Basically I was supposed to push down on the cucumber with the cylinder thing (like the one you get in a food processor or juicer to push the fruit/veg down) before turning it on which I didn’t do and so the cucumber was spiralling out of control – sorry, couldn’t resist the pun – and so it ruined my cucumber and I had to start again.

The finished dish came out better than I had expected; it looked awesome, smelled lovely and tasted deliciously fresh. Who knew such a simple dish could be so full of flavour, nutrients and be so quick and easy to make. Prepping was about 10mins then all that was next was literally a quick toss and ta-dah!

Finished.

So without further ado, here is my delicious recipe. Feel free to adapt it to your taste buds and enjoy it how you’d like it!

LOW-CARB PRAWN PAD THAI SALAD

Allergy Warning: This recipe contains nuts
You can omit the nut ingredients and still enjoy this dish.

Prep time: 10mins
Servings: 3 generously (4 as a decent side)

INGREDIENTS

To make the salad you’ll need…

• 1 whole cucumber
• 2-3 whole carrots
• 2 spring onions
• 1 bunch of fresh coriander
• 1 handful of fresh mint
• 150g ready-to-eat large king prawns
• peanuts, crushed

To make the dressing you’ll need…

• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 3 tbsp soy sauce (dark preferred)
• 2 tsp tahini or 2tbsp sesame oil
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 red chilli, fresh & finely sliced

METHOD

1. Spiralize or peel your cucumber and carrots and add to your mixing bowl.

2. Chop up your spring onions or if you’re lazy like me then use scissors then add them to your bowl.

3. Add in the prawns (or your choice of protein). By buying ready-to-eat prawns you save yourself the trouble of peeling and cooking them. Simples.

4. Chop or cut your mint and coriander and add to the mixing bowl. Add more or less of these according to your taste as they are really fragrant so if you’re not a big mint fan use a few sprigs instead of a handful.

5. Add all of your dressing ingredients into a small jar or a little container and give it a good shake. Pour that delicious dressing dressing over your salad, give it a good toss and that’s it.

Plate up and enjoy!

NOTES
Omit any nut products if you’re allergic to nuts and use a suitable alternative. If you don’t like prawns then use any other protein you wish – I’ve tried the salad with grilled turkey and it was just as yummy. Vegetarian or vegan? No problem, swap the prawns for tofu or tempeh and the honey for maple syrup.
–

So there you have it!
I hope you’ll give it a try. If you do, let me know how it went and if you’ve added anything else to make it your own. 🙂

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NB. We were kindly sent a spiralizer from AO.com for the purpose of this review. All words, opinions and photos are my own.

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