Prawn pasta salad recipe - need some help NOT A BARGAIN

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  donga100 on 22/09/2014 - 22:28

  Try adding some Tobasco sauce to the mayonnaise. What type of mayonnaise are you using? I think Kewpie or other Japanese/Korean mayos would be the way to go.

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    supaderp on 23/09/2014 - 10:02

    Trying it using S&W mayonaise, seems to be quite thick and fatty.

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  Somni on 22/09/2014 - 23:03

  Cutting the dressing with sour cream/yoghurt/buttermilk is to help cut calories instead of using mayo and also adds a tang.

  I agree with vinegar or a squeeze of lemon juice. Maybe a bit of mustard.

  Fine dice the onion and fresh garlic (only a bit) so it's not overpowering. Skip the capsicum, I think it would be overpowering.

  Not enough salt is also a common problem when something tastes bland.

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    supaderp on 23/09/2014 - 10:15

    Do you know why mustard is considered? I am not really a fan of mustard but I heard it does wonders to pasta salads. I know the raw taste of mustard but can't imagine eating it with pasta =/

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      Somni on 23/09/2014 - 12:07

      I am not a fan of mustard, but I am starting to convert (I like honey mustard and dijonnaise). I only started trying it because of a potato salad recipe by Alton Brown that includes powdered mustard. Now I always use mustard in my potato salad dressing. I think it adds complexity of flavour to anything with mayo. Only use a little compared to the amount of mayo, so it's not the stand-out flavour.

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  [Deactivated] on 22/09/2014 - 23:18

  Your salad sounds exactly like a salad my mum used to throw together! She used celery, carrot, spiral pasta, red onion (not much), imitation crab meat… I think that was all actually. She had to keep making it as there would always be an abundance of leftover celery sticks in the fridge (having rabbits that eat the leaves but not the stalks = lots of uneaten stalks to use up! haha)

  She would just use coleslaw dressing. Nothing else. Oh and she'd add pepper… but she adds pepper liberally to everything so that might not be necessary lol.

  Give that a go maybe. Tasted perfect to me. Mayo on its own would be too boring. Coleslaw has a tangy flavour that works well with seafood, pasta and crunchy veg.

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    supaderp on 23/09/2014 - 10:20

    New made coleslaw dressing, but searching online it would turn out like something that Somni had suggested. Thanks

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  Glider on 22/09/2014 - 23:19

  I would use a half/half mix of whole egg mayo and sour cream, and some finely sliced spring onion. I like donga100's suggestion of adding a little Tobasco sauce for zing.

  You can also buy a product called 'salad cream' in the mayo section which is much tangy-er and more flavourful than plain mayo and is an excellent cheat's dressing for potato salad and coleslaw. It'd probably work well for your recipe too.

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  Puska on 22/09/2014 - 23:59

  +1

  why not make a garlic butter sauce instead of the mayonaise?

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  [Deactivated] on 23/09/2014 - 06:26

  How are you cooking the prawn? Pan fry in garlic butter would infuse it with lots of flavour instead of say boiling it for instance.

  Tabasco as suggested above would be great for zing if you like vinegar otherwise you can also try fresh lemon juice as well. Kewpie also as suggested above has a much nicer flavour than the Aussie mayos IMO.

  Don't throw out the prawn heads they're good for making stock chuck them in the freezer for later use (assuming you are removing before cooking)

  Red onions are awesome just don't go overboard, I would add diced fresh tomato to the mix.

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    supaderp on 23/09/2014 - 10:33

    I usually get the cooked ones from the markets. Is there much of a difference when cooked with garlic butter? The prawns are mixed with mayo, celery and onions later. I usually only smell those ingredients, the prawn just gives sweetness and texture to escape from all that carbs. Should I also cook it with shell off or on?

    Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it. I will try your suggestion during the weekend.

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      [Deactivated] on 28/09/2014 - 01:01

      +1

      There's a huge difference between frying and boiling - it's easy to boil out all the flavour of prawns so I thought this might be your problem. Many good ways to fry depends on your tastes, I usually use garlic and some chopped chillis and shallots but it's more of an Asian flavour which I don't think you're after going by your original recipe.

      I always buy uncooked prawns so I'm not sure your cooked ones would benefit from extra time in a wok. I'd say focus on making a great dressing, perhaps a creamy Caesar dressing with bacon and anchovies, or simple olive oil infused with a herb like dill and drizzled with fresh lemon juice would be good sticking with the salad angle :)

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  bluesky on 23/09/2014 - 21:24

  Instead of the vinegar, you may also consider using some lemon juice and optionally, some grated lemon rind. It may go rather well with the dish.

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  Geewhizz on 27/09/2014 - 06:42

  +1

  You could try thousand island dressing.

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  Tyler Gannal on 15/03/2019 - 21:16

  As the old recipe on my cooking app from the apknite site, they use a garlic butter sauce instead of the mayonaise. that still works nice. Thanks for sharing tho. :)