Caxton magazines staff
Lampedusa Pie, R375, from Bookstorm.co.za, is a delightful cookbook with recipes by Jo’burg-based chef and owner of The Leopard, Andrea Burgener. This delicious, yet unusual, summer salad recipe is the perfect side to your braai
INGREDIENTS
For the bread
- 250g naan bread, pita or sourdough, torn or cut up the size of Brazil nuts
- 5T olive oil
- 1T cumin seeds, ground coarsely in pestle and mortar
- 1t garam masala (or your own mix of ground spices)
- Sparse grinding of salt
For the salad
- 300g cherry tomatoes, quartered
- 1 cucumber, peeled, deseeded and sliced or chopped roughly
- 1 Spanish onion, very thinly sliced
- 1 jalapeño chilli (or Thai with all seeds removed), thinly slivered
- 5T olive oil
- 2T white or red wine vinegar (or lemon juice)
- 1t sugar
- Salt to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 garlic clove, very finely slivered or mashed up
- 1 loosely packed cup chopped coriander leaves
- ½ cup mint leaves, torn just before, plus a handful of extra whole leaves
METHOD
- Toss the bread pieces with the olive oil, cumin seeds and garam masala to coat evenly, then fry or bake until golden-brown and crisp (depending on the bread type, you might need less or more oil, just use your judgement). Grind the salt over and toss through.
- Put the tomatoes, cucumber, onion (chickpeas if using) and chilli in a big bowl.
- Add the cooled croutons.
- Mix all the remaining ingredients (i.e. the dressing) in a large jug or similar vessel, then pour over the salad and mix well. If you omit the chickpeas you might want to hold back a little of the dressing; taste and see.
- Upturn everything onto a plate and scatter with the whole mint leaves. Eat this with braaied meat or chicken, on top of smashed-up new potatoes or just on its own.
*Yoghurt is almost essential on the side.
(This recipe serves 4 people)
