We love Bali and I particularly love the food. You get such delicious and refreshing salads which are perfect in the heat. This bean salad is one of my favourite’s it is packed full of flavour and crunch. The crab adds a sweetness and the coconut a creaminess. I made mine as close as I could to the salad we ate in Bali but I had to substitute some of the ingredients to what I had in the cupboard.

Ingredients (serves 2)

For the dressing paste

• 3 shallots, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 large garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
• 1 long red chilli, deseeded and chopped
• thumb piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
• small bunch of coriander, roughly torn
• 4 walnuts or macadamia, crushed
• 1 tsp shrimp paste
• 1 tbsp palm sugar
• juice of a lime
• 2 tbsp coconut water (or plain water if using prepared coconut)

For the salad

• 1 coconut, flesh grated (you can use prepared if you don’t want to deal with a whole coconut)
• 120g fine green beans, topped and tailed
• 170g tin of lump crab meat
• 1 avocado, peed and diced
• crispy shallots, (I keep a tub of readymade in cupboard)
• lime wedges, to serve

Directions

For the coconut

1. You will need a screwdriver and hammer. To get out the coconut water place the screwdriver in one of the 3 eyes at the end of the coconut. Hit the screwdriver with a hammer so it pierces through the eyelet. Repeat with the other 2 and empty the water into a bowl. To open the coconut place it on its side in your hand. Use the hammer to heat and keep going until you get all the way around it should form a crack and open. Scoop the flesh out using a knife. Set aside.

For the dressing paste

1. Prepare all of the ingredients.
2. Heat a dry frying pan over a medium. Fry off the paste ingredients except for the water and lime juice in the pan for around 3 minutes until fragrant stirring a few times. The fish paste will have a strong smell but don’t worry about it, it won’t taste that strong.
3. Add the cooked ingredients to a coffee grinder add in the lime juice and blitz to form a paste. To loosen it up and add some more coconut flavour add in 1-2 tbsp of the coconut water and stir. (I drank the rest ).

For the salad

1. Add the beans and coconut to a bowl. Tip in the paste and fold through to combine and coat.
2. Add in the crabmeat and avocado, lightly fold again to mix in.
3. Share the bean mixture between 2 serving dishes, sprinkle over the fried onions and serve with a wedge of lime. Enjoy.