Muhammara as a salad base

Muhammara is a Middle Eastern dip made with breadcrumbs, walnuts, charred peppers and pomegranate molasses. It is an utterly delicious combination of sweet and sour flavours with a hint of smokeyness from the peppers.
If you are a regular here or follow me on social, you’ll know my love of adding flavour bases to salads. Muhammara is one that I keep going back to.
Here I added crunchy lettuce leaves, chicken, parsley and toasted seeds to that base to create a wholesome salad that is packed with flavour.
Feel free to swap the chicken for eggs, chickpeas or halloumi. The same thing works with other protein combos.

If you are fond of salads, or are totally bored of them and need new ideas, there is a salad guide here: To the 5* salad guide.

Ingredients for 2:

For the muhammara:
1 slice of bread, toasted and left to cool completely
3 red peppers
1 clove of garlic, crushed
50g of walnuts
1 teaspoon each of ground cumin and sea salt
A pinch of chilli flakes
Juice of 1/4 of a lemon
2 tablespoons of olive oil plus a little extra for drizzling
1 tablespoon of pomegranate molasses plus a little extra for drizzling
Freshly ground black pepper

For the salad:
2 little gem or 1 cos lettuce
A large handful of cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoons of sprouted seeds (like this one, you can find these in most supermarkets on the salad isle)
2 tablespoons of fresh parsley, leaves only
3 tablespoons of toasted seeds, I used this one, it’s in most supermarkets
2 chicken breasts, cooked to your liking
Sea salt and black pepper

Method:
1. To make the muhammara, preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.
2. Put the peppers on a baking tray or ovenproof dish and roast in the oven for 30 minutes until the skin blackens and bubbles up. There is no need to drizzle oil on top and the peppers should be roasted whole.
Set them aside to cool.
3. Once the peppers are cool enough to handle, peel them and remove the seeds. Discard the skin and seeds and tear the pepper flesh into strips.
4. Cut the toast into cubes and transfer to a food processor or blender.
Pulse the toast to make breadcrumbs.
5. Add the remaining muhammara ingredients to the blender, season well with freshly ground black pepper and pulse again. Don’t over blend it, it should be chunky, not smooth.
6. Divide the muhammara between two plates, pressing everything down so it is flat on the plate.
7. Drizzle olive oil and extra pomegranate molasses over the top.
8. Divide the salad ingredients between the two plates.
9. Season with sea salt and black pepper and drizzle a bit more olive oil on top if desired.

Cucumber, sesame and smoked tofu salad

Crunchy cucumber with ginger, creamy avocado, hints of chilli/ coriander, edamame, smoked tofu and a lime, soy and sesame oil dressing.
It’s a tasty one.
Give it a go.

Shopping notes:
Edamame is available frozen and may be sold as soya beans. If you can’t find it, frozen broad beans or tinned chickpeas will do the trick too.

Ingredients to feed 2:

1 cucumber, cut into half moons
thumb size piece of ginger (25g), grated

a large handful of coriander leaves
2 spring onions, sliced
150g edamame beans
8 radishes, finely sliced
2 avocados, peeled and sliced
1 red chilli, finely sliced
1-2 teaspoons of sesame seeds
300g smoked tofu, cubed
sea salt and black pepper to season
rapeseed oil for cooking

For the dressing:
Juice of 1 lime
2 teaspoon of tamari or good quality soy sauce
2 teaspoons of agave or maple syrup
6 teaspoons of sesame oil

Method:
Put the cucumbers into a bowl, season with sea salt and black pepper and squeeze over the juice of the grated ginger. If some of the grated ginger falls in then this isn’t a big deal.
Set this aside whilst you make the rest of the salad.
Put a frying pan on a medium-high heat with a splash of rapeseed oil in it.
Throw in the cubed tofu and cook until crispy on most sides.
Put the frozen edamame beans in a small saucepan and add enough water to cover. Bring to the boil then take it off the heat and drain. Either run it under some cold water or allow it to cool naturally.
In a large bowl, combine the edamame, spring onion, avocado, radish, chilli and coriander leaves. Season with a small amount of black pepper and stir to combine.
Add the cucumber and stir again.
Whisk together the dressing ingredients and tip this over the salad.
Stir to combine then divide between two plates/ bowls.
Top with the smoked tofu cubes and sprinkle the sesame seeds over it all.