Crispy shallots, spiced prawns, toasted Israeli couscous, sweet bursts of pomegranate and fragrant herbs make for the most amazing of salads. The salad is simply dressed in lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil to let the flavours of the colourful ingredients shine. The pomegranate arils (seeds) standout like little jewels against the green herbs and white couscous making it a pleasure to look at too. Like the majority of the recipes I’m posting at the moment, it comes together in less than half an hour.

The prawns and crispy shallots add the big bang flavours in this dish. The rest of the ingredients really compliment each other and add freshness and sweetness to the salad. Those little pomegranate arils also look ridiculously pretty.

I love using sumac in recipes as it adds a lemony hit to things but with more of a smokiness too. Dried spices that add freshness are so handy to have in the pantry so it’s totally worth sourcing some sumac if you’re not already using it.

I kept the dressing really simple on this salad, if you want something more you could add a tahini yoghurt dressing too but I love it just as it is.

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1.5 cups Israeli couscous

1.5 cups stock (chicken or vegetable)

1 shallot, finely sliced

500g prawns (weighed with shells on), peeled and deveined

1 heaped tsp sumac

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/4 tsp all spice

2 lebanese cucumbers, sliced

3 cups baby spinach

1.5 cups flat leaf parsley leaves, roughly chopped

1.5 cups mint leaves, large ones should be torn

1 pomegranate, arils removed and ready for use.

1/2 mild red chilli, finely diced

juice and zest of 1 lemon (reserve 1 tsp of zest for serving)

salt and pepper to season

Directions

Put a medium heavy based pot on medium high heat and add 1 tsp of the oil, once hot add the couscous and toss to coat in the oil. Cook until the couscous starts to colour in parts and some pearls get golden. Add the stock and simmer for 5-7 minutes (or according to packet directions). Take it off the heat and set aside covered for another 5-10 minutes.

Combine shelled and cleaned prawns with the sumac, garlic, coriander and all spice. Add a teaspoon of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice and toss to coat.

Combine the couscous, spinach, herbs, cucumber, chilli, lemon zest and juice, 2 tsps extra virgin olive oil and all but 2 Tbs of the pomegranate arils. Toss to combine. Taste and season if need be.

Add 2 tsps of extra virgin olive oil to a non stick pan and heat on medium high heat. Add the shallots and fry until crispy. Season and set aside. Add the prawns to the still hot pan and cook a couple of minutes each side until golden. Remove from the heat.

Spread salad over the base of a large serving dish, top with prawns, crispy shallots, remaining pomegranate and reserved lemon zest. Drizzle any remaining oil over the top. Dig in.

HH. x