Drunken Prawns

I am joined by my little sister in the kitchen and we use fresh palmwine for a delicious drunken prawns dish. With the holiday season upon us, this is definitely one to add to the entertaining repertoire. 

Messy Eats: Fragrant Prawns

A lot of us were told growing up not to play with our food. That was all well and good when trying to teach manners, however I know now, in my culinary journey that some of the best food experiences involve playing with one's food - using hands to eat.

Communal meals in the Middle East and a lot of Africa involve huge trays with different items of food and plates or bowls for individuals with hands used to scoop food from the trays to your mouth. There are rules of etiquette that guide this process. This practice is seen in India as well. Even in the West, messy burgers and fries require fingers to get the job done. Closer to home, popular Nigerian meals of soup and a starch (swallow) are best eaten with hands.

I wanted a full on messy but delicious food experience that involved hands and sauce and would be fun as well. I thought of crawfish in the US cooked in spicy seasoning and served on long tables with diners wearing bibs to protect their clothing from stray juices and people taking the shells off these little critters and some sucking the heads (the best part) with looks of rapture on their faces.

Inspiration came.

This dish is so easy to put together but is really finger licking good. Literally. You can have it on its own. Or with rice or potatoes or soft bread to mop up all the sauce. Regardless of what you choose to have as a side to accompany this dish, have spare plates for the shells and lots of paper napkins to clean up afterwards.

You will need:

• 1kg plump shell on prawns
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 small red onion - cut into chunks
• 6 cloves of garlic - peeled and cut into half
• 1 small piece of ginger - cut into 2
• 4 green chilies - cut into half
• 2 large lemongrass stalks - bruised or cut into half
• Choice of fresh herbs - one or a mix of thyme, African Basil (scent leaf), curry leaves, basil
• Salt to taste

Directions:

• In a large sauce pan, add all the ingredients except the prawns and bring to a gentle boil stirring constantly.
• Taste and add salt to taste
• Add the prawns and stir to make sure the prawns are all coated with the sauce
• Turn the heat to low and cover pan
• Cook for 10 minutes and stir prawns and sauce
• Serve in individual bowls

Enjoy!!!

Prawn Stir Fry - A handful of ingredients make a sexy Sunday lunch

I had the most intense week - Shoots, writing deadlines, recipe testing, the bakery, meetings, school run etc.

By the time the weekend came round, all I wanted to do was sleep, sleep and sleep.

Sunday came and I was still exhausted. I could have gotten away with take out. The mister wouldn't have minded. However, me being me (don't you see the super woman cape behind me), I decided I would rustle something up. The goal was to make some thing yummy that would not take any time but allow me to use up some of the vegetables I had in the fridge that I planned to do different things with but couldn't find the time to do.

I took inventory and I had: tiger prawns, yellow, red and green bell peppers, tomatoes, red and white onions and tomatoes.

First step - get the rice going. I emptied a 400ml can of coconut milk and half a sachet of coconut milk powder into a pot with some salt and brought to a boil. I added the washed rice and set on low heat to cook gently and absorb all the coconutty goodness.

A good way  to stretch expensive tiger prawns is to cut each prawn into about 3 pieces. That way, each person can get 6  or more pieces of prawns rather than a single one which might look and feel stingy on the plate. Psychological but it really works.  I chopped the prawns into pieces and rinsed thoroughly and placed in a bowl. A dash of seafood spice and a good rub was all the prawns needed.

I sliced 1 red onion, julienned the peppers and set aside. As I was working I remembered my spiralizer that I got last year that hasn't really done enough work. I decided to make a simple salad using this cool gadget. I made cucumber strands (you can just chop the cucumber into bite sized pieces if you don't have a spiralizer), finely sliced a white onion and chopped up 2 tomatoes. I placed the cucumber, onions and tomatoes in a bowl and set aside. A quick dressing for the salad - extra virgin olive oil, salt, black pepper and a little pure natural honey for a hint of sweetness. Whisk and add to the salad. Toss and keep in the fridge till ready to serve.

On to the prawns. A wok. A dash of olive oil. Add the onions and peppers and sauté for about 3 minutes. Add some light soy sauce, a few drops of sesame oil and some pepper if you like - I used a pinch of dried yellow pepper. Add the prawns and stir till the prawns are cooked through.

Serve stir fry with the coconut rice and salad.

Simple, delicious, colorful and an all round crowd pleaser. I had some sauce left over and no prawns - I added some leftover baked chicken pieces to the sauce - voila - lunch for the little man for school.

Kitchen Tip - Refreshing Frozen Prawns

Most of the prawns sold in Lagos are frozen. Its obvious when you see packs and packs of prawns in the massive freezers at supermarkets. Did you know that even in the open air markets where the prawns are weighed and sold to you looking all limp and fresh from the sea, the  some of the merchants get boxes and boxes of frozen prawns from trawlers and thaw them out with water and sell? Freezing is a preservative method so there isn't anything fundamentally wrong with frozen prawns. Its just that seafood should be as fresh as possible for best results in your recipes and sometimes, one doesn't know how long the packed prawns have been sitting in those freezers. Freezer burn doesn't translate well to food.

To refresh frozen prawns, rinse them in cold water with a tablespoon of salt. This process is like magic. The prawns get that fresh from the sea look and any sign of freezer burn is gone. So easy to do and well worth making this a part of your kitchen repertoire.

Enjoy!!!!