Simple & Delicious ‘Starter’ Recipe For Your Next Sustainable Seafood Dinner Party
* Buy your sustainable Banana prawns from us, $39 per kilo
INGREDIENTS
250g of fresh prawns de veined and cut into 1 cm pieces
150g of sweet potato peeled and cut into thin matchsticks
3 x spring onions cut into thin slices
freshly ground black pepper
120g plain flour sifted
80g rice flour 220ml of water
half a teaspoon of baking powder
half a teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of sugar
vegetable oil for frying
METHOD
Combine the two types of flour with the salt, baking powder, sugar and black pepper
Mix in the water until you have a smooth batter
Leave to rest for ten minutes
Mix in the sliced spring onions, the sweet potato and the chopped raw prawns
In a heavy bottomed pan heat 2-3 cm of oil until 180 C
To test to see that the oil is hot enough drop a little of the mixture into the oil it should start to bubble and sizzle straight away. This is an important test for the taste also. If you are going to make a batch of something, which will be cooked. You must always taste one before you commence cooking the rest of the batch. You do not want to cook them all, to find that you have not seasoned them correctly
Taste the sample and adjust the seasoning
Place two heaped tablespoons of the mixture onto a metal spatula, pat the prawn batter into an irregular shape about 1cm thick push the mixture in the oil
Cook in batches about 3 or 4 at a time
Fry the cakes turning them once until golden brown on all sides
Drain on kitchen paper
Keep warm in an oven if necessary
To eat, wrap the prawn cake in a combination of some fresh herbs ( mint, coriander ,Thai basil, rocket and/or watercress) and dip into the Nuac Cham dipping sauce
NUAC CHAM DIPPING SAUCE
3 x small Thai birds eye chillies finely sliced
1 x clove of garlic finely chopped
1 x tablespoon of sugar
100ml of warm water
2 limes juiced
4 tablespoons of fish sauce
METHOD
Cut the chilli into thin round slices
Reserve one third of the chillies for garnish
In a pestle and mortar crush the remaining chilli, garlic and sugar until a smooth wet paste
Add the warm water
Transfer to a bowl and add the lime juice and the fish sauce
Stir to dissolve the sugar
Add the remaining chopped chillies to the dipping sauce
Chopped ginger, fresh coriander, spring onions or thin slices of carrot can be also added to the dipping sauce as well as chopped roasted peanuts, so that it can accompany numerous types of dishes.
