Toasted nuts, seeds & grains with smashed cherries, herbs & goat’s curd

By: Greg Malouf, Lucy Malouf
From: New Feast
Serves: 4
Photographer: Alan Benson

We love the speckled combination of bulgur and red quinoa in this fabulous mixed salad. It’s all about the marriage of varying textures – the bite of the grains, the crunch of the nuts and the juicy cherries – with intense bursts of flavour. Don’t skimp on the dressing (which is fabulously zingy), as the bulgur and quinoa will drink it up.

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
100g	medium-coarse bulgur wheat
50g	red quinoa
70g	pecan nuts
2 tablespoons	sunflower seeds
2 generous handfuls	watercress or rocket leaves
1	large shallot, very finely sliced
1	long green chilli, deseeded and finely shredded
1/2 cup	shredded mint leaves
1/2 cup	shredded flat-leaf parsley leaves
	salt
	freshly ground black pepper
12	plump cherries, pickled and lightly smashed
100g	soft goat’s curd or feta, crumbled

Lime-ginger dressing

Quantity	Ingredient
45ml	lime juice
30ml	pomegranate molasses
160ml	olive oil
1/2 teaspoon	grated fresh ginger
1/4 teaspoon	turkish red chilli flakes
	salt
	freshly ground black pepper

Method

Soak the bulgur wheat in boiling water for 25–30 minutes. Tip into a sieve and, using your hands, squeeze out as much water as you can. Then scrape into a tea towel and twist to extract even more water. When it’s as dry as you can manage, transfer to a large mixing bowl.
While the bulgur wheat is soaking, heat a small saucepan and dryfry the quinoa for 2–3 minutes, stirring to ensure it toasts evenly. Cover generously with boiling water – it will bubble vigorously and then settle down. Simmer for 10 minutes then tip into a sieve and leave to drain for 5 minutes or so, stirring with your fingers every now and then to help drain away any excess moisture. Tip onto a shallow tray and pat as dry as you can with kitchen paper. Add the cooled quinoa to the bowl with the bulgur wheat.
Heat a frying pan and dry-toast the pecan nuts for 2–3 minutes, stirring to ensure they colour evenly. Chop them roughly then add to the mixing bowl, along with all the remaining ingredients, except for the goat’s curd.
Shake all the dressing ingredients together in a jar then pour on to the salad – you may not need all of it, but the bulgur and quinoa will soak it up quite thirstily. Mix everything together gently, then taste and add more salt and black pepper if necessary. Gently mix in the crumbled goat’s curd and serve straight away.