Salad of Char Grilled Zhoug Paste Marinated Prawns with Citrus Salad

I must confess I am not the biggest fan of exercise.....I hate the feeling of being sweaty and puffed, but I know what you are thinking it is good for you right? Well I do love my Pilates, my teacher is great and I get to catch up with my girlfriend Leia for coffee after....and no we don't have cake! 


Today I am really sore, Nat our teacher gave us lots and lots and did I say lots of ab work.....I am so going to feel it tomorrow.


So to keep up the good work I have done this morning, I have decided to make a prawn salad,  not an ordinary prawn salad but a asian version. This is one of the few things I made at my recent trip to James St Cooking School, which was amazing by the way! 


This version is light and zesty with a kick of chilli. 

Salad Ingredients

1kg of green prawn cutlets

8 red shallots, finely sliced

3 tablespoons of ginger, julienne

Half a cup of coriander leaves

250g baby spinach leaves for the base

1 vine ripened tomato cut into eight's.

Dressing

3 tablespoons of palm sugar, grated

3 tablespoons fish sauce

3 tablespoons of citrus juice{lemon, lime}

1 red chilli, deseeded & finely chopped.

Create Zhoug paste using recipe below

Marinate the prawns for half an hour in Zhoug paste

Char grill the prawns on high for 3 minutes

Set aside to cool

To make the dressing, dissolve palm sugar in fish sauce and combine with remaining ingredients

Combine all salad ingredients including the marinated cooked prawns in a bowl, toss with dressing & serve on baby spinach base on a serving platter.

Zhoug Paste

3 Red chillies

1 bunch of chopped coriander leaves

6 cloves of garlic, peeled

1 teaspoon of salt

2 teaspoon ground black pepper

3 teaspoon ground cumin

1 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamon

1 bunch flat leaf parsley

If using whole spices, first dry fry until fragrant 

Grind all spinces to a powder in a Mortar & Pestle

Using the Mortar & Pestle to pound the chilli and garlic. Then add the parsley, coriander, salt, pepper, cumin and cardamon. blend until combined.

You can also place the paste into a clean jar and cover with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Paste will keep in the fridge for several months. You can use the base for dips, marinate for lamb, fish or squid or as a relish for cold meats.