Crispy fried sprouts with creamy tahini dressing & roasted pecans

Lately I’ve been on an entertaining mission – that is, to convince my partner that sprouts are good. It’s certainly been a challenge, with several accounts of lovingly cooked sprouts being pushed all the way to the very edge of the dinner plate, as far away as possible as other meal components. Andrew’s reason being – “they taste like sprouts”.. and so I would sigh, but also couldn’t help but grin. His worried and slightly scared face expressions have been somewhat amusing.

Ok, so the flavour of sprouts is perhaps for many people not so pleasant, especially when cooked and very soft. However, they are very nutritious, high in fibre and now being in season are especially fresh and crunchy.

When raw and thinly sliced they are nice used in slaw, they can be pulled apart and made into chips, they can be roasted or fried, used in patties, croquettes or fritters. So many options.

After trying various ways of roasting and frying I’ve discovered that pan frying is a really easy and quick method that adds flavour and keeps sprouts from getting too soft – I’m talking super super fried and ‘chip-like’ crispy on the outside and warm yet still crunchy on the inside (not soft at all). When seasoned and then covered in a delicious creamy zesty dressing these little green things are yum. The dressing is scrumptious and adds that lovely creamy comfort factor (plus, disguises the sprout flavour as Andrew will say).

Finally, when a good helping of these is enjoyed with an approving smile it’s all worth it.

I hope you like them too!

Ingredients:

A good helping of olive oil (~ 2-3 Tbsp)
3-4 handfuls of brussel sprouts, washed and cut in half
1-2 Tbsp. fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
Salt and cracked pepper to season
A good handful of pecans, roasted, chopped roughly

For the dressing:

Juice of 1/2 a large lemon
1 Tbsp. tahini
1.5 Tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. maple syrup
A pinch of salt & cracked pepper to season
A pinch of nutmeg
~1/2 tsp water

Method

Firstly make the dressing: In a small bowl or jug add lemon juice, tahini, olive oil, salt and pepper, maple syrup and nutmeg, and using a fork whisk until combined. Then add water and whisk again. Water helps to create the desired dressing thickness, if you’d like your dressing a little thinner just add a tiny bit more water. Once made, set this dressing aside.
Add a good helping of olive oil to a fry pan and heat to medium heat. Once the oil is warm-hot, throw in sprouts (as soon as they hit the pan they should sizzle and begin to fry). You want the oil hot but not so hot that the sprouts burn quickly. Fry on medium heat tossing the sprouts so that they fry evenly on both sides. Add a pinch of salt and a good helping of cracked pepper and continue to fry until both sides of sprouts are dark golden brown and crispy. This should take approx. 15-20mins total (depending on heat level).
Remove sprouts from heat, squeeze a little lemon juice over them, add parsley and toss through.
Serve on a plate and drizzle with dressing, add pecans, then toss sprouts just before serving. I like to then add additional drizzles of dressing just because it’s delicious.
These sprouts are lovely served with fish, chicken or red meat. You can also serve with other salads or add to a quinoa salad with other veggies, boiled egg or tinned salmon for example. These are also nice tossed with spinach leaves and with goat feta thrown in (delicious!). We’ve had these with salmon and potatoes, I’ve also served them at a family dinner with various other sides and roast chicken.

Gestational Diabetes –

This is a fantastic dish for ladies with GDM, enjoyed as a side to meat or fish with some potato or sweet potato. One thing I would suggest is to use sugar free maple syrup, or just less maple syrup (for example 1 teaspoon) just so the dressing doesn’t cause a rise in your BGL (plus this allows you to easily have a nice side of carbohydrate e.g. potato/sweet potato/rice). If wanting more personalised guidance I would recommend you speak with your Dietitian or feel free to reach out to me via email or social media.