Chilli Garlic Prawns

An excellent starter dish with prawns and my all time favourite Chinese take out. Prawns are cooked in chilli and garlic ground paste with a hint of cumin and black peppercorns. This dish might look fiery hot, but its actually very mildly spiced since I removed the seeds from the red chillies. 

 

Best served as an appetizer with your favourite dip. These prawns can also be served with roti / naan or with steamed rice/ fried rice.

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

• 15 Prawns - clean and devein
• 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 Tablespoon salted butter
• 4 Garlic cloves
• 4 Dry red chillies
• 1/4 Teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1/2 Teaspoon whole black peppercorns
• Salt to taste
• Spring onion greens to garnish
• 1/2 Teaspoon freshly squeezed  lemon juice

Directions

1. Clean and devein prawns. Remove head and then pull the legs and shell and remove it. Using a paring knife remove the dark dorsal vein from the prawns. Set aside in a large bowl with plenty of water
2. In a microwave safe coffee mug heat 1 cup of water on high for 1 minute
3. Add dry red chillies in the hot water and set aside for 10 minutes
4. After 10 minutes,  slit the chillies and using a spoon remove the seeds. If you want spicy masala, you can leave the seeds in
5. In a food processor, add garlic, red chillies, cumin seeds, whole black peppercorns and grind it to coarse paste with 2 tablespoons of water
6. In a frying pan, add vegetable oil and butter
7. When the oil is hot, turn the flame to low and add the ground chilli garlic paste and fry for 5 minutes until all the water in the ground paste evaporates and the masala turns to a dark red color
8. Season with salt
9. Add prawns and increase the flame to medium and cook for 2 to 3 minutes flipping sides once or twice
10. Cook until the prawns are cooked through. Do not over cook prawns , they become chewy and hard if you overcook
11. Immediately squeeze fresh lemon juice and garnish with spring onion greens