Recipe: Nabula El Mourid’s Prawn and Mango Noodle Salad Makes the Case for Shopping Smarter

When you’re doing the weekly grocery shop, how often do you feel like a chicken with its head cut off? No game plan, no shopping list. Just randomly grabbing things off the shelves hoping those weeknight meals will materialise once you get all the bits and pieces home. Sometimes you need a plan. 

And Nabula El Mourid – founder of the phenomenal Supermarket Swap app – has a few to share. Her debut cookbook, The Weekly Grocery Shop, includes 70 budget-friendly recipes arranged into weekly meal plans to help you spend less time in the shopping aisles and the kitchen. For example, the veg and herbs in this zingy salad appear in several other weeknight winners, so some clever planning and prep can give you a headstart on more than one meal.

The dish is El Mourid’s go-to when mangoes are in season. Sweet mango, charred prawns and crisp vegetables come together with a soy-lime dressing. Other noodle varieties – such as soba or vermicelli – work just as well for this. For a flavour boost, save some dressing and marinate the prawns 10 minutes before cooking. You can also add avocado slices for a creamy contrast.

Nabula El Mourid’s prawn and mango noodle salad

Serves: 4

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

200g rice noodles

400g frozen prawns, thawed, peeled and deveined

1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Sea salt

1 ripe mango, peeled and sliced

1 Lebanese cucumber, cut into ribbons

1 carrot, julienned

2 spring onions, thinly sliced

Mint leaves, to serve

Coriander leaves, to serve (optional)

Diced red chilli, to serve (optional)

Crushed roasted peanuts, to serve

Dressing

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp fish sauce

Juice of 1 lime

1 tsp honey

1 tsp coconut oil

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tsp minced fresh ginger

Method

Cook the noodles according to the packet instructions. Rinse under cold water, drain and set aside.

Heat a chargrill pan over medium-high heat. Toss the prawns with olive oil and a pinch of salt. Grill for 2–3 minutes each side, until opaque and slightly charred. Set aside.

Whisk all the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl.

In a large bowl, combine the noodles, mango, cucumber, carrot and spring onion. Pour over the dressing and toss to coat.

Add the prawns and gently mix to combine. Garnish with mint, coriander, chilli and crushed peanuts and serve.

This is an edited extract from The Weekly Grocery Shop by Nabula El Mourid, published by Hardie Grant Books. Photography by Rob Palmer. Illustrations by Evi O Studio. Available in stores nationally.