I love salads from all cuisines, be it Italian, French, Russian, Thai, Chinese, or Vietnamese. It’s the combination of fresh, crunchy vegetables and various types of proteins that I find irresistible. Pig Ear Salad is one of the most common salads in Vietnamese cuisine. You can also find an equivalent version of it in China, where fish sauce is replaced with soy sauce. The salad typically includes cabbage, carrots, mangoes, onions, and boiled pig ears. Let’s make it.
Table of Contents
Preparing Ingredients
Like many other salads, the ingredients for Pig Ear Salad (Goi tai heo) are totally flexible. You can use a wide range of vegetables, from cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, and onions to fruits like mangoes, green papayas, unripe mangosteens, or even lotus roots and coconut cores.
In this recipe, I choose cabbage, cucumber, and carrot since they are common and inexpensive vegetables. For cabbage, opt for pointed cabbage, as it’s less bitter than green cabbage and is ideal for salads. Purple cabbage can also be a good choice. Ensure you use fresh, high-quality ingredients to achieve the best flavor and texture.
The main protein in the dish, pig ears, requires careful preparation to remove the smell and achieve white, crispy pieces of pig ears. Choose fresh, pinkish pig ears from a butcher shop or Asian shop. Frozen pig ears are also fine, but remember to check the date to pick the newest ones.
Besides, also prepare some garnishes such as chopped cilantro and spring onion, fried shallots or oven-baked onions, and roasted peanuts. Roasted peanuts are a must in Vietnamese salad; however, you can replace them with your preferred types of roasted nuts or seeds if you’re allergic to peanuts.
Now that we’ve gathered all of our ingredients, let’s combine them all together to create a wonderful salad.
Tools and Equipment:
Chopping a large number of vegetables can be a frustrating task. Therefore, having the right tools and equipment can make the process easier and your salad look tastier. Here’s a list of what you’ll need:
- Mandoline Slicer or a Sharp Knife: The key to this salad is thinly sliced papaya and carrots. A mandoline slicer can provide consistently thin strips, but if you’re skilled with a knife, that works too. If you have an Asian Grater & Peeler, it is the best option for grating carrot and green papaya.
- Mortar and Pestle: This is traditionally used in Vietnam to crush the garlic and chilies, releasing their oils and flavors to blend into the dressing. If you don’t have one, a small blender, food processor, or a simple knife and cutting board can be used as a substitute, but the flavors achieved with the mortar and pestle are still the best, in my opinion.
- Mixing Bowl: Choose a large enough bowl that allows you to mix the ingredients without spilling. Glass or ceramic bowls are preferred as they don’t retain flavors and are easy to clean.
Making Pig Ear Salad
Step 1. Preparing Vegetables
Now that we have our ingredients and tools ready, it’s time to prepare the ingredients for the salad.
- Slicing cabbage: Slice the cabbage horizontally into 3-5mm (0.1 inch)-thick slices. Don’t slice them too thin or too thick. If the cabbage strips are too thin, they will easily crush, while if they are too thick, they will not absorb the dressing sauce well. Wash and soak them in salty water.
- Julienning Carrots: Peel the outer skin of the carrots and use the mandoline slicer or knife to shred them into thin strips similar to the papaya. Wash and squeeze them 2-3 times with salty water to enhance their crispness.
- Cutting Cucumber: Use a multifunction peeler/wave cutter to cut cucumber into pieces.
- Draining out water: After cutting the vegetables, mix them all in a mixing bowl and add 1 tbsp sugar + 1 tsp salt. Let them sit for 20-30 minutes to drain out some of the water from the vegetables. Finally, squeeze them one last time.
Step 2. Preparing Pig Ear
- First, use a small knife to scrape off any remaining hair and dirty parts from the pig’s ears. Massage the ears with salt and lemon, and wash them several times until they become clean and whiter.
- In a pot, add the pig ears, sliced ginger, and shallot, then add enough water to fully cover the ears. Turn the heat to high and bring the water to a boil. Once the water boils, reduce the heat to medium, skim off any foam, and continue boiling for 15 minutes. After that, immediately transfer the ears to an ice bath or cold water to cool them down and prevent them from blackening.
- Finally, cut the pig ears into thin slices. Each slice should contain the white cartilage in the middle and the ivory pig skin on the outside.
Step 3. Making Dressing
The heart of the Vietnamese Salad, including Pig Ear Salad (Gỏi tai heo), is its dressing – a tantalizing blend of sweet, salty, spicy, and sour elements in fish sauce. If possible, fish sauce with crushed garlic is more delicious; however, fish sauce with minced garlic and chillies is still good to go. Here’s how to prepare the dressing if you prefer the crushed version:
- Starting with the Aromatics: Using the mortar and pestle, crush the garlic and chili with 1 tbsp of sugar to release their flavors. This process is crucial as it helps extract the essence of these ingredients. Once crushed, add them to your dressing mix.
- Combining the Basics: Add warm water, then fish sauce. The ratio of fish sauce for making salad is 1 part water to 2 parts fish sauce. Then, squeeze 1 tbsp of lime/lemon juice or vinegar into the sauce. Stir evenly to combine.
- Adjusting to Taste: Depending on your preference, you might want it sweeter, tangier, or spicier. Adjust the quantities of sugar, lime juice, or chili accordingly. If it becomes too salty, add more lime juice or a touch of water to dilute it.
Step 4. Assembling
- Mixing the Base: In a large mixing bowl, combine cabbage, carrot, cucumber, and pig ear slices. Toss them gently to ensure they’re well-mixed.
- Adding the Dressing: Pour the prepared dressing over the mix. Using your hands or salad utensils, gently mix everything to ensure every piece is coated with the dressing. Allow it to sit for about 10 minutes for the ingredients to absorb the dressing.
- Garnishing: Finish off with a sprinkle of crushed roasted peanuts and fried/oven-baked shallots for extra crunch. You can also add more chopped herbs on top.
Serving and Storing
With salad, you should serve the dish immediately for the best texture and freshness.
If you don’t consume it right away, store the vegetables, pig ears, and dressing sauce separately to extend their shelf lives. Moreover, if you assemble the ingredients before storing, the water from the vegetables will drain out more, and they will also lose their crispiness.
Pig Ear Salad
Equipment
Ingredients
- 300 g pointed cabbage 10 oz
- 300 g carrot 10 oz
- 300 g cucumber 10 oz
- 1-2 pig ears
- Sugar and salt
- 2-3 ginger & shallot slices
Dressing
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 red chilli
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp water
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp lime/lemon juice
Instructions
Step 1. Preparing Vegetables
- Slicing cabbage: Slice the cabbage horizontally into 3-5mm (0.1 inch)-thick slices. Don’t slice too thin or too thick. Too thin cabbage strips make it easily to get crushed while too thick strips prevent them from absorbing the dressing sauce. Wash and soak them in salty water.
- Julienning Carrots: Peel the outer skin of the carrots and use the mandoline slicer or knife to shred them into thin strips similar to the papaya. Wash and squeeze them 2-3 times with salty water to enhance the crispness.
- Cutting Cucumber: Use a multifunction peeler/wave cutter to cut cucumber into pieces.
- Draining out water: After cutting vegetables, mix them all in a mixing bowl and add 1 tbsp sugar + 1 tsp salt in. Let them sit for 20-30 minutes to drain out a part of water in vegetables. Finally, squeeze them one last time.
Step 2. Preparing Pig Ear
- Firstly, use a small knife to scrape off the remaining hair as well as impurities from the pig's ears. Massage the ears with salt and lemon and wash them several times until they become clean and whiter.
- In a pot, add pig ears, sliced ginger and shallot, then an amount of water that covers the ears fully. Turn on high heat until boiling. Once the water boils, reduce the heat to medium, skim the foam and keep boiling in 15 minutes. After that, immediately transfer the ears into an ice bath, or at least cold water, to cool them down and prevent them from blackening.
- Finally, tut the pig ears into thin slices. Each slice contains the white cartilage in the middle and the ivory pig skin outside.
Step 3. Making Dressing
- Starting with the Aromatics: Using the mortar and pestle, crush the garlic and chili with 1 tbsp of sugar to release their flavors. This process is crucial as it helps in extracting the essence of these ingredients. Once crushed, add them to your dressing mix.
- Combining the Basics: Add warm water, then fish sauce. The ratio of fish sauce for making salad is 1 water: 2 fish sauce. Then, squeeze 1tbsp lime/lemon juice or vinegar into the sauce. Stir evenly to combine.
- Adjusting to Taste: Depending on your preference, you might want it sweeter, tangier, or spicier. Adjust the quantities of sugar, lime juice, or chili accordingly. If it becomes too salty, add more lime juice or a touch of water to dilute.
Step 4. Assembling
- Mixing the Base: In a large mixing bowl, combine cabbage, carrot, cucumber and pig ear slices. Toss them gently, ensuring they’re well-mixed.
- Adding the Dressing: Pour the prepared dressing over the mix. Using your hands or salad utensils, gently mix everything, ensuring every pieces is coated with the dressing. Allow it to sit for about 10 minutes for the ingredients to absorb the dressing.
- Garnishing: Finish off with a sprinkle of crushed roasted peanuts and fried/oven baked shallot for an extra crunchy. You can also add more chopped herbs on top.
Nutrition
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