Skip to content
Vietnamese lobster and grapefruit salad with a ginger and lemongrass dressing recipe

Vietnamese lobster and grapefruit salad with a ginger and lemongrass dressing recipe

17 ratings

Set the tone for your Christmas dinner with this impressive, luxurious starter: a Vietnamese-inspired salad that pairs meaty lobster with sharp grapefruit and a wonderfully fragrant sweet and sour dressing. See method

  • Serves 4
  • 25 mins to prepare
  • 280 calories / serving
  • Gluten-free

Ingredients

  • 2 x 400g packs frozen whole cooked lobsters, defrosted
  • 3 grapefruits, tops and bases sliced off, skin sliced away, then cut into rounds
  • large handful coriander leaves
  • large handful mint leaves
  • 50g honey roast peanuts, chopped

For the dressing

  • 2 lemongrass stalks
  • 2 tsp finely chopped ginger
  • 1 red chilli, seeded and finely chopped
  • 1½ tbsp light brown soft sugar
  • 2 tbsp fish or light soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
  • 1 lime, juiced
If you don't have any limes, try a lemon instead

Each serving contains

  • Energy

    1180kj
    280kcal     14%

  • Fat

    8g 12%

  • Saturates

    1g 7%

  • Sugars

    15g 16%

  • Salt

    1.9g 31%

of the reference intake
Carbohydrate 15.5g Protein 37.7g Fibre 3.8g

Method

  1. To make the dressing, trim the base of the lemongrass stalks and peel away the tough outer layers of each stalk to reveal the softer core. Thinly slice this from the base upwards, stopping when the stalk becomes tough and difficult to chop. Combine the chopped lemongrass with the ginger, red chilli, sugar, fish or soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and lime juice in a bowl.
  2. To remove the meat from each lobster, first remove the netting and twist the claws from the body to remove them. Break the arm from each claw and crack open the claws to extract the meat in large pieces, or even whole, if you can. Crack open the shell of the arm to extract the arm and the knuckle meat. Twist the tail to remove it from the body. Push the tail meat out from the base (you may need to twist the very end of the tail off first) in one piece. Slice in half, lengthways. Pull the pale, spongy gills and stomach sac away from the body. Pick out the remaining meat, picking out the thin, shell-like membranes as you do so. Discard the empty body, gills, stomach sac and other pieces of empty shell.
  3. Toss the lobster meat with the grapefruit, coriander, mint and dressing. Divide between 4 serving plates and scatter with the chopped peanuts to finish.

See more Christmas starter recipes

You may also like

Be the first to comment

Before you comment please read our community guidelines.