Turn up the heat with a homemade chilli paste. Mix it with lime, coriander and cucumber for a fresh relish that goes beautifully with grilled seafood.Â
Ingredients
Method
To make cucumber relish, add the water and sugar to a small saucepan and put over low heat until sugar dissolves. Set aside to cool.
Use a mortar and pestle to ground peppercorns, then pound in the garlic and coriander roots. Add salt, grind for a couple of minutes, then add chilli and grind into a smooth paste.
Transfer to a bowl and stir through sugar water, fish sauce, lime juice, coriander leaves, kaffir lime leaves and cucumber. Set aside.Â
Prepare prawns one at a time (see Cook’s tip below). With a small, sharp knife, make an incision from just below the head down to tail without cutting all the way through, leaving head and tail intact and mid-section shell on. Prise open shell a little to devein the prawn. Repeat for remaining prawns.Â
Lay prawns in a flat dish and splash fish sauce over, leaving to marinate for about 10-15 minutes.
Preheat barbecue plate or griddle plate on medium heat. Brush each prawn with a little olive oil. Grill prawns on hot plate for about 4 minutes, basting with coconut cream. Turn over prawns and cool for another minute or so.Â
Pile prawns on steamed rice, top with cucumber relish, then garnish with shallots and coriander. Serve.Â
Cook’s Tip
Preparing your prawns using the method in Step 4 means you devein them but retain the shell, so the marinade penetrates the flesh but the shell protects and keeps it moist while cooking. Note you’re not butterflying the prawns.Â
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