Recipe: Mango salad

There’s so much brightness and freshness to this salad, says Zoe Alakija. Packed with punchy flavours and contrasting textures, it’s truly a fulfilling meal in itself – though it also pairs beautifully with most main courses.

Serves 6-8

• 3 mangoes, diced
• 2 medium avocados, peeled, stoned and diced
• 1 red pepper, finely diced
• ½ a red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 round lettuce, roughly chopped
• 100g pomegranate seeds
• handful of fresh coriander and mint, chopped
• 2½ tbsp pomegranate molasses
• 1 lime, to garnish

For the candied peanuts

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• 100g unsalted peanuts
• 60g light brown sugar
• sprinkling of chilli powder
• pinch of fine salt

For the dressing

• 40ml avocado oil
• 2 limes, zested and juiced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp light brown sugar
• large pinch of fine salt
• large pinch of chilli flakes

Method

• Start with the candied peanuts. Roughly crush the peanuts using a rolling pin (you can do this while they are still in the bag, if you wish).
• Combine them with all the other ingredients and 25ml of water in a wide frying pan over a medium heat.
• Keep stirring until the peanuts caramelise and turn brown, thick and sticky. Remove before they burn.
• Tip the peanuts onto a lined or greased tray and spread them out as much as you can to make sure they don’t clump together. Leave to cool.
• For the dressing, put all the ingredients in a small jug and mix well. (If you can’t find avocado oil, vegetable oil will do.)
• When ready to serve, put the mango, avocado, red pepper, onion, lettuce, pomegranate seeds and herbs in a large bowl. Toss gently to mix. Spatter the pomegranate molasses across the dish.
• Drizzle the dressing over the salad and scatter the peanuts evenly across its surface. Serve fresh, garnished with the lime, cut into wedges.
• If you like, add a scattering of chilli flakes for more heat.

Taken from Afro Vegan by Zoe Alakija, published by Hoxton Mini Press at £20. To buy from The Week Bookshop for £15.99, call 020-3176 3835 or visit theweekbookshop.co.uk.