Prawn, Mango & Avocado Salad

By Chef Stephen Fraser

Ingredients

  • 12-24 medium to large prawns (or cooked prawns)
  • 1 fresh mangos
  • 1 avocado
  • 1 small bulb fennel
  • 2 heads of baby cos
  • 10g coriander
  • 10g basil
  • 10g toasted white sesame seeds
  • 60ml vinaigrette
  • salt
  • freshly ground black pepper

FOR THE VINAIGRETTE:

  • ½ red onion
  • 2 limes
  • 50ml Olive oil
  • 10ml sesame oil
  • 1 small red chilli, minced
  • ½ glove garlic, minced
  • 1/3 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 2 tbsp Honey
  • 25ml cider vinegar or white wine vinegar
  • 1 tbsp chopped coriander
  • salt
  • freshly ground black pepper

Prawn, Mango & Avocado Salad

Serves: 2 people

Preparation Time: 35 minutes

Equipment Needed: 1 Good sharp knife, 2 Mixing Bowl, A chopping broad, A Large deep pot, Tables and tea spoons

Instructions

We start off­ by cooking the prawns, we have two cooking options to choose from. We can either pan fry or steam/blanch. Both options work well for this recipe. Pan frying will give a more juicy, meaty prawn, and it will add a roasted flavour. Whereas steaming/blanching will leave you with a firm but gentler flavour prawn. Personally I think steaming is better, as this method seems to pair well with our Pinotage Rose.

Bring a large deep pot of water to a rapid boil. While the water is heating up, prepare an ice water bath and have it ready on the side. The prawns will just take a few minutes to cook. Add a good pinch of salt to the boiling water, and then add the prawns. It’s good to do this in 2-3 batches so that the prawns cook quickly. When the prawns become a deep pink, almost red colour, remove them from the boiling water and place them in the ice water to cool. Repeat this until all the prawns are cooked.

Remove the prawns from the water and pat them dry. Now remove the heads, de-shell and devein. If you would like to keep a few prawns with their heads on for presentation you can, but remember to devein them and keep them aside for later. You can also use store bought cooked prawns for this if you don’t feel up to the challenge of preparing them, or need a quick recipe you can just throw together.

Next, we need to make the Vinaigrette. Peel and dice the red onion and place it in a mixing bowl. Dice the chilli and add to the onions along with the garlic. Zest one of the limes and juice both. Add the juice and zest to the mix, along with the cider vinegar, dijon and honey. Mix all this together and slowly add the olive and sesame oil. Once all the oil has been added, add the chopped coriander and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Give this a good mix and then add the prawns to the vinaigrette. Give them a good toss in the sauce and put it to the side.

Let’s put this dish together now. First clean the fennel bulb and cut in half. With the flat side down on the board, finely slice the fennel and place into another mixing bowl. Cut the baby cos into bite size wedges, (make sure they have been cleaned and free of sand and any soil). Tear the basil leaves and rough chop the coriander, add to the mixing bowl with the cos wedges. Skin and remove the stones from both avo’s and mango’s and dice to medium cubes. Mix these in with the salad mix along with the prawns and vinaigrette. Add the toasted sesame seeds and give this mix a final toss before serving.

Pairing Suggestion

BEST PAIRED WITH LANZERAC PINOTAGE ROSÉ
A great fresh and healthy summer salad to share with a loved one this valentine’s day along with bottle of Lanzerac Pinotage Rosé 2019.