The first recipe of 2023 is here.. and its not Vegan!
Some of you may know that I recently ran a poll on our instagram page to see just exactly what you all would be eating this January and I have to say, I was surprised!
With vegan diets being promoted and encouraged during the first month of the year I thought that many more would take up this kind of diet at home but a whopping 92% of you said that you wouldn't be!
Almost 60% of you said that you would be reducing your meat consumption instead so, with that in mind, I thought I'd kick start the year with a non vegan recipe, although, I will be looking after my vegan friends this month too!
I saw some delicious juicy prawns at my fishmongers earlier this week and I knew exactly what to do with them: Caribbean prawn curry with coconut and lime!
With this time of year being dark in the morning and dark in the afternoon, I really needed a dish reminiscent of my time in the Caribbean when the sun in my eyes, salt water in my hair and where my next rum punch was coming from were my only concerns!
I had a beautiful prawn curry on my favourite beach in Grenada - La Sagesse, on one of the days during my last visit (actually it was twice but who's counting!) and I needed the feel good vibes that came with that meal, so it was a no brainer to recreate it.
I always use raw king prawns when I cook a prawn dish, never the pre cooked ones. I find that no matter how little you leave the pre cooked ones in the sauce for, they always end up overcooked! Raw King prawns can be purchased fresh or frozen. They take a little longer to prepare as you have to remove the veins if this hasn't already been done already (so ideally buy 'deveined raw king prawns') but either way, I do think it really is worth the effort.
Raw prawns are great as they change from a grey British January sky colour to a lovely bright pink when cooked which is a great indicator to making sure that they are cooked through but still juicy. When I add my prawns to my sauce I distribute them so that they are either flat and not piled up, or submerged in the liquid. If I lay them flat, then as they begin to become pink around the edges I'll simply give them a flip and know that they are close to being done which is usually within the next minute or so.
I also add a little raw cane sugar to mine to compliment the sweetness of the the prawns but Demerara or light brown sugar will work well.
This dish doesn't take long to cook at all and in less that 15 minutes you can have a delicious curry without having to faff around weighing out different spice amounts. Talking from experience, you really don't want to do that especially when it comes to curry as it can get messy and you can end up with yellow turmeric stained hands which isn't a good look! I've already done the long part for you when you use the
Myristica Caribbean Coconut Curry Spice Blend so you just have to simply add it in a teaspoon at a time to enjoy the delicious flavours.
Healthy/Time saving tip : This is already a quick meal but it's even quicker if you have it with a light salad instead of with rice and peas like I did!
The below recipe serves two.
Ingredients
For the marinade:
450g raw deveined king prawns
1.5 teaspoons of Myristica Caribbean Coconut Curry Spice Blend
Pinch of salt
For the curry:
1.5 tablespoon Coconut oil
1/2 small onion, chopped small
1 large clove of garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon of picked thyme
1/4 red pepper, chopped small
1/4 yellow pepper, chopped small
1/2 tomato
3 teaspoons of Myristica Caribbean Coconut Curry Spice Blend
1 teaspoon of raw cane/ Demerara / light brown sugar
400ml coconut milk
1/2 a lime, juiced
25 - 50ml water
1 spring onion, sliced
Method
1. Marinade your defrosted prawns in 1.5 teaspoons of Myristica's curry blend and a pinch of salt. Leave overnight or as long as possible.
2. Heat the coconut oil over a medium heat in a pan and sweat the onions off gently with no colour for about 3 to 4 minutes.
3. Add the chopped garlic and the thyme
4. Add the 3 teaspoons of Myristica's curry blend and cook gently for about 2 minutes. This is where you are getting the vegetables coated in all the curry goodness!
4. Add the tomatoes and sugar and stir as it cooks gently. Cook for 2 - 3 minutes until you see some of the juices start to come out of the tomatoes and vegetables.
5. Pour in the coconut milk and sugar and bring to a simmer
6. Simmer for about 5 minutes and then add your prawns
7. Turn down the heat so that your prawns can gently poach in the curry sauce
8. Finish with a your fresh lime juice and the splash of water just to thin the sauce down slightly
9. Check the seasoning and see if it needs some more salt and serve with a garnish of sliced spring onions
Enjoy! x
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