Celebrate Palestinian Flavours with Sami Tamimi's Hearty Stew
Renowned chef Sami Tamimi brings the vibrant heart of Palestinian cooking to home kitchens with two spectacular recipes that celebrate freshness and comfort. His prawn and tomato stew with fregola and coriander pesto offers a deeply satisfying bowl, perfectly complemented by a crisp, herby quick-pickled vegetable salad that cuts through the richness. This combination delivers both warmth and brightness to the plate, embodying the essence of Tamimi's culinary heritage.
Creating the Perfect Prawn and Fregola Stew
The journey to this comforting dish begins by blistering 220g of cherry tomatoes in a hot pan to develop a deep, smoky flavour. The foundation of the stew is then built by sautéing a large, finely chopped onion until softened, before adding a fragrant mix of crushed garlic, grated ginger, green chilli, and a blend of lightly crushed coriander seeds, cumin seeds, and bashed cardamom pods. 15g of fresh dill and tomato paste are stirred in, filling the kitchen with an irresistible aroma.
400g of tinned chopped tomatoes are added along with water, salt, and pepper, and the sauce is left to simmer for 25 minutes until beautifully thickened. While the sauce cooks, 120g of fregola is boiled in salted water for 10 minutes, then drained and tossed with oil to prevent sticking. The vibrant coriander pesto, made with pine nuts, green chilli, lemon zest, and olive oil, is quickly pulsed together in a food processor.
The final assembly sees the cooked fregola, 400g of king prawns, and the charred tomatoes stirred into the rich sauce. The stew is covered and cooked for a further five to six minutes, just until the prawns are perfectly cooked through. It is served immediately, topped with the fresh pesto and accompanied by lemon wedges.
The Crisp Counterpoint: Herby Quick-Pickled Vegetable Salad
No Palestinian-inspired meal is complete without a lively salad, and Tamimi's herby quick-pickled version is the ideal partner. It starts with a hot pickle brine made from 50ml of apple cider vinegar, sugar, coriander seeds, and caraway seeds. Thinly sliced red onion and golden beetroot are briefly cooked in this mixture, then left to cool completely, which gives them a tender-crisp texture and a sharp, sweet flavour.
The pickled onions and beets are then combined with fresh, thinly sliced fennel and purple carrots. The salad is dressed with 3 tablespoons of olive oil, the remaining apple cider vinegar, salt, and pepper. To serve, the vegetables are artfully layered with crisp romaine lettuce leaves and a generous scattering of fresh dill, basil, coriander, and mint fronds.
These recipes are featured in Tamimi's celebrated new cookbook, 'Boustany: A Celebration of Vegetables from my Palestine', published by Ebury Press at £30. For those inspired to explore further, a copy can be secured for £25.50 via the Guardian Bookshop.
