Recipe(tried): Yum Som-O (Thai pomelo/or grapefruit salad)

As it's near Chinese New Year now, I can see pomelo sold in almost every fruit stores. They are truly one of my favorite fruits of all time. These large pear-shape fruits are auspicious for the up-coming festive. They all come with a red sticker that says "lucky" in Mandarin on the skin for the season. Pomelo maybe an unfamiliar fruit in most western countries but it's slowly gaining popularity now. I remember that I saw them in Melbourne before. Its inner flesh resembles a grapefruit and like grapefruit, there are pink and white varieties. And I have to say these are sweeter compared to grapefruit. If you can't find pomelos in your local fruit markets, you can simply use grapefruit. The pea-sized eggplants used in this recipe are the ones often found in Thai curries. If you can't find them, just omit them all together or you can use seedless green grapes. I have done both and some of my guests actually prefer the grapes as they find the pea-sized eggplants too crunchy and also not used to its raw taste.

I suggest serving this simple dish with a Tom Yam Koong (Thai hot and sour prawn soup), Thai beef salad, a fiery Thai chicken/roast duck curry and steamy Thai jasmine rice and it would be an unforgettable exotic meal!

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Yum Som-O (Thai pomelo/or grapefruit salad)
Serve 4

1 pomelo or 2 grapefruit
1 small clove garlic
1 red chilli, seeded and sliced
1 T. palm (or brown) sugar
1 T. fish sauce
2 T. lime juice
1/4 cup dried shrimp, reduced to a floss in an electric blender or with a knife (not so easy)
2 T. pea-sized eggplants/ or seedless green grapes (optional)
1 stem fresh and plum lemon grass, sliced very finely

with a sharp knife peel the fruit, taking off all the thick skin and layering bare the flesh. Divide into segments by cutting between the membrances. Remove any seeds and put the segments in a bowl. Crush the garlic or pound in a mortar with the sliced chilli, the palm sugar, fish sauce and lime juice. Mix in the shrimp floss, egg plants, if used, and the lemon grass and pour over the pomelo or grapefruit segments in the bowl. Add the remaining chilli slices. Toss gently, then transfer to a serving plate.