This is a lovely summer salad, appropriate for a South African Christmas, especially if you’re cooking outdoors and serving lunch on a warm day. It will give your table a burst of Christmas colour and the flavours are piquant and refreshing.

Here’s what goes in:
1 pineapple, sliced
Maple syrup for basting
1 red pepper, chopped
¼ cup sweet chilli sauce
Fresh coriander
Fresh mint
Salad leaves and microgreens
For the dressing:
60ml olive oil
30ml balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon muscovado sugar
1 tablespoon mild curry powder

How to do it:
Start by preparing the dressing. In a heavy based saucepan, dry fry the curry powder until toasty and fragrant. Add the olive oil, balsamic vinegar and sugar and simmer until the sugar has dissolved and you have a thick, syrupy dressing. Set this aside to cool.

The pineapple slices are best flame grilled, on the braai. Baste them with maple syrup while they’re on the fire and allow them to char a bit. It will take around 15 minutes before you start to see their colour changing. Turn them over a few times and once done, set them aside to cool.
Finely chop the peppers and stir them into the sweet chilli sauce. To assemble the salad, scatter the pineapple and peppers over your greens, and shred fresh coriander and mint over the top – an absolute must for that burst of summertime flavour! Finally, drizzle with the dressing just before you serve.