Simmone Edwin will wow you with her gourmet dishes made simple. In her weekly column, we will feature her fancy-sounding but easy-peasy recipes. You will be able to wow your friends with impressive dishes due to her perfectly explained and thorough techniques.
Paw Paw and Prawn Salad
This salad is a refreshing use of local ingredients like paw paw, tomatoes and chandon beni. It is an impressive dish to serve at get-togethers or for a date night at home and requires just a few basic knife skills.
Chop the salad ingredients and marinate your shrimp ahead of time. Then, toss with your vinaigrette and pan-fry your shrimp right before serving.
Yields: 4 servings
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
INGREDIENTS
1 pound prawns
1 tablespoon lemon pepper
1 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon paprika
3 tablespoons coconut oil
1 small, half-ripened paw paw
1 small green paw paw
6 to 8 medium-sized tomatoes
4 medium-sized carrots
1 tin sweet kernel corn
4 medium sized cucumbers
1 bunch fresh mint leaves
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1 cup olive oil
cup balsamic vinegar
1 bunch chandon beni
DIRECTIONS
1 Clean and devein prawns. In a large bowl, add shrimp and season with lemon pepper, salt and paprika.
2 In a large frying pan, add the coconut oil and lightly pan-fry the prawns until orange/pink in colour. Be careful not to crowd the pan with shrimp as they would steam rather than cook evenly. Remove and let cool slightly.
3 Thinly slice (julienne cut) both the half ripe and green paw paws. Reserve and wash out seeds from the inner pulp, for later use.
4 Thinly slice cucumbers and carrots; set aside. Cut the tomatoes into wedges or your desired shape and size.
5 In a mixing bowl, toss together paw paw, tomatoes, carrots, corn, cucumbers, mint leaves and chopped walnuts.
6 In a separate bowl, add the balsamic vinegar and finely chopped chandon beni leaves. Slowly whisk in olive oil to form an emulsion.
7 Toss salad with chandon beni-balsamic vinaigrette and top with reserved paw paw seeds. Serve and enjoy.