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JAZZ™ Apple & pearled wheat salad with tahini dressing

May 24, 2019 | Salad as a meal, Salad as a side, Sides & salads

The natural sweetness of apples with fresh mint and coriander, the nuttiness of tahini and pearled wheat and a hint of cumin – makes for an interesting and delicious salad. Apples are such a versatile fruit as they go with many different flavours and ingredients, both sweet and savoury.

Salad is no longer the forgotten item on the table or just a mix of lettuce, tomato and cucumber with a few olives tossed through. Be creative with all the exciting options available and make your next salad the feature dish of the meal. The secret to a good salad is the textures, adding something crunchy and having a yummy dressing. This salad has all these elements included.

Pearled wheat is a lovely base for a starchy salad and will ‘carry’ and absorb the other flavours in the dish beautifully. The apples, sultanas, cranberries and herbs add pops of colour and the sunflower seeds and apple are deliciously crunchy. Enjoy the salad as a side dish with a roast chicken or at your next braai. Or as a vegetarian or light meal, as the beans are a great source of protein.

A few cooking tips

  • Cut the apples into thin wedges and quickly rinse in a bowl of cold water, to prevent them from browning too fast.
  • Work with a sharp, smooth-bladed vegetable knife to not bruise the apple.
  • Don’t overcook the pearled wheat – as the Italian’s would say, it still needs to be ‘al dente’, with a bit of chewiness.
  • Rinse the pearled wheat with cold water to keep the wheat loose and fluffy.
  • Tossing lemon juice and oil into the warm wheat is another way to prevent it from forming lumps and adds lovely flavour.
  • Tahini is a sesame seed paste with a lovely nutty flavour. It can be quite thick, so to change the consistency to use as a dressing, a bit of oil and water is stirred in with the seasonings.

A JAZZy affair

Apples are one of nature’s ready-to-eat snacks, great for a lunch box and popular in baked treats. Have you ever tried it in salads, and then indeed more than just a green salad? The refreshing taste of JAZZ™ Apples is particularly good in salads, as the sweet-tangy flavour is a great balance with the other ingredients and lends extra crunch.

JAZZ™ Apples are perfect as part of a healthy lifestyle. Everyone knows the saying: ‘an apple a day, keeps the doctor away’. The apples will keep you energized and are packed with vitamin C, fibre and antioxidants – nature’s own tasty snack. These crunchy apples are locally grown and now in season, so look out for the well-known red and blue label and the tag-line of the ‘always refreshing’ JAZZ™ sensation. Keep the apples in the fridge to retain as much of their crunchiness as possible.

Recipe

Pearled wheat salad with JAZZ™ Apples & tahini dressing

Serves 6 – 8

Ingredients

250 ml (200 g) uncooked pearled wheat

1 bay leaf

750 ml (3 cups) water

a pinch of salt

juice and finely grated rind of 1 lemon

60 ml (¼ cup) olive or avocado oil

1 x 410 g tin cannellini beans, drained

125 ml (½ cup) golden sultanas

125 ml (½ cup) dried cranberries

45 ml (3 tbsp) each roughly torn fresh coriander and mint leaves

2-3 JAZZ™ Apples, with the skin, cut into thin wedges

125 ml (½ cup) sunflower seeds, toasted (see tip)

30 raw, unsalted almonds, coarsely chopped

extra fresh coriander and mint leaves for garnish

Tahini dressing

80 ml (⅓ cup) tahini

30-45 ml (2-3 tbsp) olive or avocado oil

15 ml (1 tbsp) water

5 ml (1 tsp) ground cumin

black pepper to taste

15 ml (1 tbsp) chopped fresh coriander

15 ml (1 tbsp) chopped fresh mint

Method

1. Place pearled wheat, bay leaf, water and salt in a saucepan and bring to the boil over a medium heat.
2. Reduce the heat and simmer with a lid for 30-40 minutes or until just tender, but not mushy.
3. Drain pearled wheat in a colander and rinse well with cold water to keep the wheat loose and fluffy. Spoon into a bowl and stir in the lemon juice, rind and oil. Allow to cool.
4. Dressing: Place tahini in a bowl and stir in the oil, water and cumin. Season with pepper and stir in the fresh herbs. (Add a bit more water or oil to make the tahini dressing as runny as you would prefer it.)
5. Toss beans, sultanas, cranberries and herbs into the pearled wheat and spoon onto a large platter.
6. Arrange apple wedges in little bundles together on the salad, with the beautiful red skin facing upwards.
7. Sprinkle with sunflower seeds and almonds and garnish with extra herbs. Serve with the tahini dressing.

Tip

1. Toast sunflower seeds over a medium heat in a dry pan, without any oil, until aromatic, but take care as they burn easily.

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