King Prawns Poached in oil with caramelized onion buttermilk sauce served with Lime Sabayon, poached garlic, preserved prawn roe in oil
Cooking
king prawns is a challenge, they look fantastic in the fish market, giant body,
big claws, hues of blue all over the body, it looks like an alien animal to me
at times, inside the crust of this crustacean lays the tender soft flesh, which
is a delicate protein. In India there are so many amazing recipes with prawns n
king prawns and one of them is the timeless classic: Chingrir Malaicurry aka
Prawn Malaicurry, some people say they are the best with king prawns, I don’t
think so, they are just as good if not better with medium sized prawns, but if
you are cooking with king prawns it will be a huge disappointment when you end
up with solid hard prawns, literally overcooked. But then when I think of it,
it has become an established texture in here when it comes to prawns, we do eat
prawns when they are not very soft but a bit firm, a bit chewy and we enjoy it,
but sometimes it’s goes a bit too much due to overcooking, I remember eating
king prawns at house-parties where they have become so solid, eating that was a
mess.
While
creating this recipe I approached the king prawns softly, ha-ha, well I mean I
cooked them, beginning at low temperature, because the prawn protein is
delicate n overcooks easily at high temperatures, low temperature cooking gives
a great result, I start with immersing the marinated prawns in cold oil and I
let the oil go hot slowly but I never let the oil reach a very high
temperature, for doing this first of all you need a thick bottom saucepan, if
you don’t have that you can always layer a saucepan over another flat pan or
over a heat diffuser, in that way the temperature will be consistent n never go
high quickly. Cooked in this way the prawns will stay soft n moist even after
hours.
I infused the
oil with dry red chili n garlic n red onion; the infused oil delivers the
flavor to the prawns submerged in them. I serve the prawns with white rice; the
best combination possible with lime sabayon which is light, foamy n has the
citrus flavor. The poached onions are further sautéed in the pan concentrating
their flavor even more n I finish them with buttermilk which gives a slight
tang.
You can fry the
shells in hot oil until they go crispy and you can eat them! They will provide
the crispy crunch in the dish. The prawn roe preserved in oil adds a unique flavor;
it has that umami rich flavor which is still mellow n just wonderful. For a
little sweetness I used red bell pepper jus but it is just optional. For
freshness the use of fresh coriander leaves is unbeatable, I love the flavor
that goes so well with this dish, the sesame micro herbs doesn’t provide a
boost of flavor but adds a fresh crunch n nutrition to the whole thing.
I used cumin
thyme salt in the final serving, I keep it at a place so that someone can eat
it at their will, for preparing the salt you need to roast some cumin seed on
medium heat for about 2-3 minutes until they becomes fragrant n then crush them
to a coarse powder, mix sea salt along with dry thyme leaves with the cumin
powder and you got thyme cumin salt.
So now I will
take you to the recipe.
For The Recipe: You will need
For
the Prawns:
King prawns- 200 gm
take the vein out from the tail end but keep the shells on
Vegetable oil – 2
cups
Shallots or red
onion- 1 medium, sliced
Garlic -6 medium
cloves, cut into long thin slices
Buttermilk- 4 tbsp
Turmeric- ½ tsp
Dry red chili-1
medium, chopped roughly
Red chili powder- ¼
tsp
Cumin powder-1/4 tsp
Red chili flakes- ¼
tsp
Salt
For
the Sabayon:
Egg yolk-2
Butter-30 gm, melted
Lime/lemon-1 tbsp
Water- 1 n 1/2 tbsp
White wine- 1 tbsp
Salt
Black pepper
For
the prawn roe in oil:
Prawn roe, extracted
from the belly of the prawns in any- as much as u get
Vegetable oil- 4 tbsp
Salt- some pinches
1. Begin by
marinating the prawns with shells with turmeric n salt, sprinkle the turmeric n
salt n leave them for about 15-25 minutes, after that time wash them well in
water to remove the excess salt n turmeric n pat them dry. Take a saucepan
which is narrow, in that way you can get a good height of oil to submerge the prawns
in a little amount of oil, so pour the vegetable oil in a heavy bottom narrow
saucepan n add the sliced onion n the garlic n chili slices, if you don’t have
a heavy bottom saucepan, keep the saucepan on top of another frying pan, then
put the heat on to low to medium, we are infusing the oil with the garlic n
onion, you need to give it about 10-15 minutes like this, at the end of the time
the garlic n onion will seem to sizzle slightly
n leave bubbles from them, the garlic should not change color, they will
still remain white n the onions will be very soft, take them out with a spoon n
put them in another frying pan, put the narrow saucepan away from the heat for
5 minutes, then add the prawns in the oil making sure they submerge in the oil
completely and put them on low heat, keep aside some of the garlic poached
previously n add the rest in this oil,
nothing will seem to happen at first but the work is already happening,
the mild heat of the oil is poaching them gently, give them about 5-8 minutes
in oil, as time passes the prawns will turn very red or orange n will begin to
leave bubbles from them n sizzle slightly in that oil, check after 7 minutes by
taking out a prawn n cutting it through with a knife, it should be white inside
n should be very soft, they will be ready after 8-10 minutes, take them out.
2. Put the frying pan
with the onions on low medium heat, let the onions brown a bit, and when they
are brown add the red chili flakes, chili powder n cumin powder along with salt
n 2 tbsp buttermilk, give them 2 minutes, if they buttermilk has completely
dried up add the rest now, mix well, taste n adjust, its ready.
3. For preserving the
prawn roe in oil, sprinkle salt over the roe, heat the oil in a pan but not to
smoke point, then pour the medium hot oil over the roe, give them an hour, this
oil n the roe is now ready to be used, will stay in the freeze for 2 weeks.
4. For the sabayon,
combine the egg yolks n water n white wine in a bowl, whisk with a wire whisk
over a bain-marie until the eggs become very light n airy, take the bowl off
the heat every 10 seconds to make sure the eggs don’t scramble, taste it after 1 minute of whisking, it
should not taste very much of eggs, keep whisking for 1 minute, when the
mixture becomes airy take it off the heat and continue whisking it until it
becomes very light, then add the melted butter, then add the lime juice n
season with salt n pepper, this light lime froth is ready to be served.
So we are
done, for serving I will suggest white rice goes amazing with these prawns,
take a little rice, add the caramelized onion sauce over them, then add some of
the reserved garlic cloves n some roe, take the shells out of the king prawns
and add some fresh coriander or parsley n little bit of sabayon, take a bite,
let the eyes remain closed, Bon appétit.