Yam Sami

My wife and I recently attended the marriage celebrations of the son of a friend of ours, and this dish is our contribution to the food (Thai wedding celebrations are often one long banquet... interspersed by visits to temples and paying respects to parents and grandparents). Because it was offered as part of the “husband’s side” food, I have called it yam sami, but a similar, if rather simpler recipe, recently appeared in an advertisement for a firm that packages ham and sausage, and called yam ham kung, which would be an alternative name (except I don’t like using obvious imports in language...) It is similar in concept to such dishes as yam nuea or yam mu (beef or pork salads respectively), and we in fact bought the shrimp freshly cooked from a vendor near our home on the way to the festivities, allowing this to be a “no-cook” recipe. However I would usually prefer to start from scratch so I include the method for preparing the shrimp. Note that when I describe them as ’fresh’ the jumbo shrimp are taken from a live tank for sale in most shops here... The dish is loaded with meaning, so I have left the quantities large, but you can of course scale it down for your own needs. The number of large shrimp (8), their colour (red), even the local name (dragon) are indicators of wealth and success in life, so highly significant for the young couple. One local tradition here is for the couple to each feed each other a shrimp - less messy than the American cream cake! Eight shrimp also means one each for the Bride and Groom, their parents, and the best man and chief bridesmaid (the latter being a recent tradition of western origin). Finally yam means tossed (as a salad is tossed), and signifies the tossings of fortune in life...