Encrust the humble avocado with nutty black sesame seeds as you serve it up with cucumber, exposed pea pods and some greens. Accompanied by a delicious raspberry walnut dressing, this salad is easy to make over and over again.
Lightly dry toast black sesame seeds in a fry pan for 20 seconds. Remove and set aside to cool
Cut the avocado in half, discard the stone and peel.
Place half an avocado in the palm of your hand. Pick up black sesame seeds with your other hand gently press the black sesame seeds into the avocado. Do so until it is fully coated. Repeat for the rest of the avocados.
De-string the peas and blanch in a saucepan of boiling water for 2 minutes. Drain and place in cold water to stop the cooking process. Pat dry and open them up.
Using a wide Y peeler, peel off one layer of skin and discard. Then peel long wide strips until you hit the seed. Turn the cucumber on the other side and repeat. Then roll up each strip.
Salad Dressing
Place the raspberries in the mortar and gently grind until mashed up.
Then add the walnut oil, sherry vinegar, honey and allspice and mix until well combined.
Assembly
In a medium sized mixing bowl, add the mixed leaves and half the dressing. Toss until well combined. Place on the platter.
Add the sesame crusted avocado on top.
Place the rolled-up ribbons of cucumber around the platter.
Scatter the peas n the platter.
Drizzle the rest of the raspberry walnut dressing on top.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve.
Notes
It’s easier to work with softer, riper avocados so that the sesame sticks better.
You can use white sesame seeds or a mixture of both black and white if you prefer.
Any assortment of mixed leaves will work fine.
Not all peas are created equal. If you open up the pods and the peas aren’t looking great, you don’t have to serve it in the pod. You can just buy fresh peas out of the pod or even use frozen peas.
Frozen raspberries would work just as well for this dressing. Just ensure they are completely defrosted prior to use so that it doesn’t dilute the dressing.
You can replace the honey with maple syrup or rice malt syrup for a vegan version of the salad. Or just omit it altogether.
While the peas in their pods look absolutely stunning, the pod of a regular garden pea isn't edible as it's too stringy. Might like to remind your guests to just extract the peas and put the pod aside.