Salat Khaek (Southern Thai Salad)

This is not a salad so much as a rich, spiced coconut-peanut sauce that the Thai pour over a warm potato salad. The name “salat khaek” translates roughly to “Indian salad," a nod to the Muslim communities in Southern Thailand who originated this style of dressing.

The chili paste is hand-pounded in a mortar, chilies, salt, shallots, curry powder, and peanuts crushed together until they break down into a coarse aromatic base. Blenders don’t give the same texture.

Two hard-boiled egg yolks get worked into the paste. This is the thickener that emulsifies everything into a creamy, cohesive sauce once it hits the coconut milk.

Cracking the coconut milk until the oil separates is Thai cooking 101. That visible layer of coconut oil on the surface is what lets the chili paste fry and bloom rather than just simmer.

Chef Tips

• Toast the peanuts until fragrant and golden before pounding. Raw peanuts will make the paste taste flat.
• Pound the paste in small batches if your mortar is small. Overfilled mortars just push everything up the sides.
• Taste the finished sauce and balance. It should sing with salty fish sauce, sharp tamarind, and warm sugar all at once, adjust as needed.
• Serve warm over room-temperature boiled potatoes, sliced cucumber, bean sprouts, tofu, and the remaining hard-boiled egg whites.

Variations

• Pour over pan-fried tofu or hard-boiled eggs for a protein-forward vegetarian version (skip fish sauce, use light soy).
• Add a squeeze of lime at the end for extra brightness.
• Stir in a tablespoon of Thai red curry paste in place of curry powder for a more complex Southern-style heat.