Prawn and Ruby Grapefruit Salad
I‘ve never been a huge fan of pre cooked prawns especially not when the alternate choice is a warm, just cooked green prawn. Since relocating north, I’ve begun looking at the cooked prawns at my fishmonger with fresh eyes and seeing an easy, stress free, hot night dinner alternative. The high quality and reasonable price of cooked local prawns makes them much more alluring.
It’s ironic that the recipe I had in mind when I bought cooked prawns for dinner actually needed green prawns. I’d been browsing through Adam Liaw’s “Big Pot” over breakfast, thinking about what I’d buy on my shopping trip when his recipe for Prawn and Ruby Grapefruit Salad caught my eye, but only because I had a lone ruby grapefruit in the fridge that needed to be used. I put the book aside and moved on without adding the necessities to my shopping list. I would have sworn I needed cooked prawns.
Not to be deterred I made the salad anyway and was I glad. It was a palate party on a plate, sweet, salty, hot, nutty and fragrant, a salad that was both exciting and refreshing, and in fact I think the sweet fleshed cold prawn meat was a necessary textural contrast.
Chances are I’ll be buying cooked prawns again.
I used herbs and greens that I had to hand, but I was well and truly inspired by the outstanding flavour combo in Adam Liaw”s recipe.
Prawn and Ruby Grapefruit Salad for 2
12 cooked prawns
1 ruby red grapefruit
1 Lebanese cucumber
1/2 cup coriander leaves
1/2 cup mint leaves
1/2 cup snow pea shoots
1/2 cup mung bean shoots
2 tablespoons dessicated coconut
2 tablespoons crushed peanuts
dressing:
1 birds eye chilli
3 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
Peel the prawns and cut in half lengthwise, remove the digestive tracts and discard. Set the prawns aside in the fridge.
Cut the peel and pith from the grapefruit, then use a small sharp knife to remove the grapefruit segments from the membranes. Set aside
Toast the coconut in a small pan until golden, remove from the pan and set aside.
Thinly slice the cucumber.
Pick the herb leaves, wash and spin dry.
Rinse and dry the sprouts.
Mix all the dressing ingredients together and set aside.
Toss together the herbs, cucumber slices, shoots, coconut and peanuts.
Make a bed of greens on two serving plates.
Arrange the grapefruit segments and prawns on the bed of greens then drizzle over the dressing.
Scatter over a few extra peanuts and serve immediately.
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21 comments on “Prawn and Ruby Grapefruit Salad”
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Please Pass the Recipe by Sandra Gay is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
Please Pass the Recipe 
I’m glad you’ve found a good source for prawns. We landlocked foodies often have to make do with inferior product,especially in the seafood department. This is one beautiful salad and combines flavors that I’d never think to combine. I bet it’s a refreshing change in the heat of your summer.
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I need to be choosey by the coast too, there is a lot of cheap inferior quality seafood from Asia in our markets. Yes the flavours were unexpectedly good together
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Some pre-cooked -particularly king- prawns are overly tough and salty… we’ve been avoiding these and buying smaller local cooked as well as green prawns from smaller local fish co-ops and the difference is amazing & wonderful to the city and bigger, more central holiday area suppliers. These flavours are delicious and I love that you used what you had to hand.
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Thanks EllaDee. You’re so lucky being by the coast , there’s nothing like seafood from the source
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That is one gorgeous salad!!!
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The flavour combo is unusual but it really works well
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All those flavor a sound fantastic. I completely understand avoiding any cooking in the heat. That will be me in about six months time! We eat a lot of salads in the summer and shrimp is always a favorite to go with it.
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I’m just learning how easy it is to plan a meal with ready cooked shrimp, although I still prefer to cook them myself…
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I can’t stand grapefruit. Looks beautiful, though. Are those prawns cooked at sea?
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Yes they are, it’s impossible here to buy wild caught prawns that haven’t been cooked (and frozen) at sea. You just have to be careful of the source, our markets are flooded with Asian seafood, some of dubious provenance. Shame you don’t like grapefruit, you’re missing out…
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Sandra, that looks delicious. Even if it is only an assembly rather than a cooking.
Best,
C
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Thanks, but I figure any food preparation is cooking….
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This dish looks so wonderful Sandra and love all those flavors. We only every get fresh prawns at the market, they never sell them cooked 🙂
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Really, that’s what I prefer but the heat here has me looking for different ways to avoid cooking. This was a food choice
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I have to say O M G I used to love the really top notch cooked prawns when I was working for the Sydney Fish Market Corp that we got from some of the suppliers downstairs. This combo of grapefruit, Asian flavours and sweet cold prawns is inspired. Will be making it ASAP.
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Thanks Cheery, yep if the prawns are good they’re very good. This was a delcious dinner
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Cooked prawns, when they are as fresh a a Daisy, are very good- it’s a matter of knowing the source. This salad looks wonderful- I wouldn’t mind some right now.
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I think my opinion of cooked prawns has been set by mediocrity somewhere in the dim past. I’ve found a good source, always fresh and delicious.
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Goodness knows we need a few shortcuts in this heat (and with our respective cooking load due to sensitivities!) so hurray for pre-cooked prawns! Sounds nice, Sandra, thank you.
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I agree Ardys, anything to avoid increasing the heat in the kitchen. This had a really interesting flavour. BTW, my spelt sourdough starter is going gangbusters. I’ve dried a batch but need to check that it fires up again before I share. I’ll be in touch soon..
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It’s too hot to bake here at the moment anyway! That is exciting news though!
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