Who doesn’t love prawns??? I love them, could eat them every day growing up, smothered in garlic butter or dipped in tempura batter and deep fried. If I was on death row, my last meal I would request was garlic prawns and squid calamari tubs.

Then I learnt that you have to devein fresh prawns and if you don’t it can give you a really upset stomach that can ensure you stay on the toilet for a long long time and wish that you were never born… so I have heard… my dad’s friend ate a prawn that hadn’t been deveined and he said  he could not believe one prawn could cause such an explosion… sorry a bit graphic but those were his exact words.

And if the deveining part wasn’t bad enough, the whole chopping off of the head and then my dad always mentions to me that prawns have worms in their heads so that freaks me out even more because I really do not want to chop off the head and have a worm jump out at me, I don’t think my heart could handle that and I will most likely give up eating food for ever after that.

I tired feeding my dad cleaned frozen prawns from the supermarket and he said they tasted funny, he prefers the fresher version, of course he would, he doesn’t have to have a fishy smell covering every surface of the kitchen while the cleaning takes place and then have your hands smell like fish for the remainder of the day, now does he???

I came across this recipe in Asha Shivakumar’s recipe book and the day was a mouthful to pronounce. The name alone frightening me, it seemed like there was going to be ingredients in the dish that I was not going to have in my pantry, but would you believe it, I had every single ingredient expect the rolls.

I had to make my dad go by them. I said crusty French loaf and he came with day old hot dog rolls because the man at the store told him it was the same thing. Normally I would not have eaten a Pick ‘n Pay roll, seeing as I have seen their kitchen and I mean I work with food, I know how easy it is to sneeze and put your fingers places they shouldn’t be and then back in the dough and how easy it is for hair to go places it should not. I have also seen all supermarket staff walk with those hair nets outside and then go back in without changing those nets, I have done Qpro training and I know that is not allowed.

But because it took forever to make every component of this meal… not because it was complicated but because I was distracted… I gave it and ate the roll, surprisingly enough it was delicious…I seriously hope that the roll only contained roll ingredients and not something extra that gave it the delicious flavour.

The fried prawns were delicious, I ate a few to sample each batch.

This is the first time I have made any form of compote and I was a bit nervous, but the mango compote was a breeze to make and it tasted delicious. The remainder of the compote I took to work the following day and dipped salty crackers in and enjoyed it for a tea time snack.

What I found extremely funny about this recipe is that the lady added salt to raw prawns and then she stated that more could be added after tasting….mmm….um, no way I was going to be tasting raw prawn… not for all the tea in china.

Ingredients for the prawns:

• 12- 15 x raw tiger prawns, cleaned and deveined.
• 2 x tsp salt.
• 1 x tsp chilli powder.
• ¼ x tsp turmeric powder.
• 1 x tbsp. lemon juice.

Ingredients for the coating:

• 2 x tsp rice flour.
• 1/3 x cup semolina.
• 1 x tsp chilli powder.
• Pinch of salt.

Ingredients for the mango compote:

• 1 x tsp oil.
• 1 x tsp cumin seeds.
• 1 x red onion, finely chopped.
• 1 x serrano chilli.
• ¼ x tsp turmeric powder.
• ½ x tsp salt.
• 2 x ripe mangoes, peeled, and flesh removed.
• 2 x tbps mayo

Method:

• Pat dry the prawns and place in a bowl.
• Add the salt and massage it into the prawns.
• Cover and set aside for 10 minutes.
• Add in the ginger garlic paste, chilli powder, turmeric powder and lemon juice.
• Toss so that all the prawns are coated with the marinade.
• Cover and set aside for an hour to marinade.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together all the coating ingredients.
• Dip the prawns into the coating, ensuring that the entire prawn is covered in the coating, shake off any excess.
• Shallow fry prawns, until the coating is crispy this should take a few minutes.
• Remove from the pan and drain on paper towel.
• In a pan, heat the oil from the compote.
• Add in the onion, cumin seeds and saute till the onions are soft.
• Add in the chilli and fry for a few seconds.
• Remove from the heat and pour into a blender with the remaining ingredients for the compote.
• Blitz till well combined.

To assemble:

• Spread some of the mango compote on the inside of each slide of the roll.
• Add a layer of lettuce, a few shrimp, some thinly sliced red onion and a good drizzle of the compote over the top.