Spiced lentil salad with prawns and mint yoghurt dressing

Serves 4

Indian spices give the flavour to this salad and the mint yoghurt dressing could be served as a lassi (a yoghurt drink) if you blend with a little water and omit the fish sauce.

Indian spices give the flavour to this salad and the mint yoghurt dressing could be served as a lassi (a yoghurt drink) if you blend with a little water and omit the fish sauce.

1 cup lentils du Puy
¹/ ₄ cup finely sliced spring (green) onions
¹/ ₂ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 green chilli, finely chopped
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
¹/ ₄ cup coriander (cilantro) leaves
1 teaspoon turmeric
20 green (raw) prawns, peeled and deveined, tails intact

To serve:
1 cup baby spinach leaves
100g green beans, blanched and refreshed
mint yoghurt dressing (below)

Place lentils and one-and-a-half cups of water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Drain the lentils.

Place warm lentils, spring (green) onions, four tablespoons of the olive oil, vinegar, chilli, salt, pepper, ground coriander, cumin and fresh coriander in a bowl, stir to combine and set aside. Place remaining olive oil, turmeric, salt and pepper in a bowl and stir to combine. Add prawns and stir to coat with oil.

Heat a non-stick frying pan over high heat for two minutes. Add prawns and cook until just opaque, shaking pan frequently.

To make salad, divide lentils among four plates, top with baby spinach leaves, green beans and prawns. Finish with a drizzle of yoghurt dressing.

Mint yoghurt dressing
1 cup yoghurt
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tsp fish sauce
4 tbsp finely chopped mint

Place ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine.