Crispy Prawns With Wasabi Mayo & Sweet Chilli Pepper Dip
1 egg
100g potato flour
24 raw tiger prawns, de-veined and tail removed
700ml groundnut oil, for frying
For the Wasabi Mayo:
2 tsp wasabi powder
6 tbsp mayonnaise
2 pinches caster sugar
For the Sweet Chilli Pepper Dip:
1 roasted red pepper from a jar, sliced
5 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
1 tsp lime juice
(1) For the chilli dip, whizz the pepper, sweet chilli sauce and lime juice together in a food processor or blender until smooth. Set aside. (BBCGF)
Right, sweet chilli sauce, I used to have this but lately our local English food shop had been stocking “Tiger Tiger Fine Chilli Sauce”. I had a taste of this and it nearly blew my head off. I added the lime juice and some sugar to sweeten it up but it was still like fire. Then I remembered a dip from one of the summer issues which had yogurt and mayonnaise spiced up with chilli so I added in a heaped tbsp of natural yoghurt left over from last week’s Lamb Rogan Josh and a heaped tbsp of mayonnaise. After mixing this all in together I had a nicely spiced dip so went with it.
(2) To make the mayo, mix the wasabi powder with 1tbsp water to form a paste. Stir in the mayonnaise and sugar, then cover and chill. (BBCGF)
Here was the first hurdle – wasabi powder – what on earth is it and where on earth was I going to get it. Mercadona had just found out what fresh cream was – they were hardly going to have heard of this. So I checked on the internet and found that horseradish was a good alternative which I did have – phew. However, by this time I was happy with my chilli sauce and was losing the will to live so didn’t even bother.
(3) In a bowl, whisk the egg and potato flour together with 4 tbsp very cold water to make a batter. Stir in the prawns. (BBCGF)
Why does every recipe have ingredients you can’t get hold of – potato flour. I ask you. I live in Spain, not London. At least the blurb at the start of the recipe had a hint for this – use half plain flour and half cornflour. That I did but had to guess on the quantities as my scales were playing up. (Note to self: check out some digital kitchen scale reviews and treat yourself!) Moving on, yes we do have eggs and cold water here most of the time – well actually we didn’t have any water the other day when the pipes froze! I then got on with my least favourite cooking job in the world – deshelling and deveining prawns. They smell and they’re slimy and all that goo – yuk. Still I’d only bought 10 given this banquet was only for two of us! At least the prawns here are worth the effort – they’re big and juicy and don’t cost an arm and a leg.
(4) Heat the oil in a deep saucepan until a piece of bread browns in it after about 15 seconds. Line a tray with kitchen paper. Lift the prawns out of the batter and fry, a few at a time, until the batter is golden and prawns pink. Lift onto the kitchen paper to drain, then sprinkle with salt. Serve hot, ready to dunk into the dips. (BBCGF)
So we’re ready to eat. I heat my oil, normal sunflower as there’s no groundnut oil to be found in my cupboard. But then I probably make a mistake. Unable to be bothered to get a bit of bread to test the heat of the oil I guess when it’s ready and start lowering in 4 of my prawns. All looks good – they sizzle away and brown nicely so I rescue them and get the rest cooked. At last we eat them.
TASTE ON TRIAL
Uuum, they were yummy. The batter was a bit spongy – I guess this was due to my over zealous frying technique or maybe because it was a few minutes since they’d been fried – who knows. Anyway they were meaty and juicy and the dip worked really well. My favourite starter I think.