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.