Prawn and Avocado Salad
From ‘5 Ingredients 10 Minutes’ Print Book page 211
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Prawns and avocado are one of the classic food marriages, up there with tomato and basil or rosemary and potatoes. The chilli flakes give it all a nice sharp fiery kick, but if you’re not a hot head, feel free to dial the chilli back or omit it all together. I like to leave the prawn tails on not only because they look pretty, but because they add a lovely crunchy element. Most people don’t eat them, but for me they’re the best part of the prawn. I urge you to try them at least once.
Serves two
10-12 large cooked prawns
1 ripe avocado
juice of 1 lime + 1 lime, to serve
2 large handfuls mixed salad leaves
1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
1. Peel prawns, leaving the little tails on.
2. Halve avocado and cut into wedges, discarding the peel and the stone.
3. Combine 2 tablespoons lime juice with 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil and the chilli flakes. Season.
4. Toss leaves in the dressing and layer on 2 plates.
5. Arrange prawns and avocado on the leaves and serve with extra lime halves.
VARIATIONS
vegetarian – replace prawns with 3-4 hardboiled eggs, peeled and halved.
gluten free – use a drained can of white beans or chickpeas or a large handful of almonds instead of the prawns.
fancy – use cooked lobster or crab instead of the prawns.
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Thanks Jules, I tried ripening the avocados, and it worked! I’m guessing now, that people actually buy them rock hard, because they can control the ripening process (even if it takes several days), whereas if you do what I was doing (buying them only ripe), its kind of hit and miss, they may actually be damaged inside or not so good. Is that right? Is it actually preferable to buy them hard and ripen them?
Absolutely DAvid – they damage more easily once they are ripe so it’s safer to buy them hard and ripen yourself. 🙂
In Taiwan most of the avocados they sell are rock hard (and massive in size, not like those in Australia). I would never buy one of them (the lady that sells them to me mostly has to bring me a small selection from out the back that are ripe). I know bananas ripen avocados, but I don’t eat bananas. Is there an alternative method?
And does something that is rock hard actually ripen in any kind of reasonable time period 🙂 And if they don’t, why do people buy rock hard avocados? What do they use them for?
They will ripen David – just pop it in a paper bag and leave out of the fridge. The reason for the bananas is they produce a lot of ethylene gas which causes fruit to ripen more quickly. Avocados will also produce their own ethylene – and keeping them in the bag helps concentrate it and speeds up the ripening 🙂