Prawn perfection

Kandla Nijhowne

Winter is the best time to enjoy fresh prawns that have not undergone freezing or preservation. Perfect cooking of these plump little fellows requires balanced flavouring and precise cooking time. Cook them more than needed and you will have something chewy akin to the rubber sole off a shoe. I haven’t sampled the latter but I can promise you it wouldn’t be palatable!

Piquant stir-fried prawns

• 1 tbsp peanut oil
• 1 knob of ginger(1 inch)
• 1 fresh red chilli, deseeded
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 2-3 spring onions, cut into 2 inch lengths
• 150-200 gm pok choy
• 500 gm fresh prawns, deveined with tails intact
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp mirin
• salt and pepper to taste

Method

• Slice ginger into matchsticks, crush the garlic, thickly cut the pok choy and chop the red chilli.
• Heat up a wok, splash half the peanut oil into it.
• Add chilli, ginger and garlic into it and toss briefly.
• Add prawns, salt and pepper and continue stirring till coated in oil.
• Cook for two minutes or till the prawns turn pink and translucent.
• Remove from the wok and keep covered on a platter.
• Add the remaining peanut oil and stir fry the pok choy and spring onion.
• Return the prawns to the wok, add soy sauce and mirin and toss very briefly to warm through.
• Serve with steamed rice.

Note: Toast some sesame seeds in a heavy pan. Scatter on the cooked prawns for that unbeatable flavour. You can substitute pok choy with French beans if you so desire. If mirin is hard to come by, use a splash of white wine, sherry or rice wine vinegar.

(Nijhowne is a Chandigarh-based culinary expert)