Wednesday 17 March 2010

Lenten recipe no. 8

Prawns in spicy peanut and coconut sauce on toast

Ingredients (per person):

Three generous tablespoons of coconut milk (the thick creamy part, not the thin watery stuff), three generous tablespoons of peanut butter (crunchy or smooth); half a clove of garlic, one small chilli pepper, 100gm of peeled prawns; two slices of bread (wholemeal, ideally Polish chleb wiejski, thick-cut). Braised tofu or soya chunks cut into small pieces can be used in place of the prawns if you've decided to go vegan.

Method:

Dollop coconut milk and peanut butter onto frying pan and heat gently, stirring them into a homogenous paste. Crush or finely dice the garlic, cut up chilli and add to sauce. When sauce is bubbling nicely, throw in the prawns, heat for six-seven minutes. Place bread in toaster set to medium. Stir prawns into sauce, keep them moving on frying pan. When bread pops out from the toaster, put on plate, and serve the prawns in their sauce onto the toast, generously. Eat it, enjoy it. Time taken to prepare: less than 10 minutes. In other words excellent for breakfast or as an evening snack.

WARNING: Take care not to burn your palate as you bite into it. The oily sauce holds heat very effectively, so let it cool down some before eating.

Lent continues, at the end of week four (yesterday) 90 sit-ups (2 x 45) and 40 press-ups (2 x 20).

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds delish and easy--love that kind of cooking. I'm a big fan of peanut butter, too (monounsaturated fats, resveratrol, etc.).

Thanks much ~

jan said...

I find it interesting that you follow ultra-polish tradition of lent fasting by using exotic foodstuffs and thai cooking methods...

How about groats and sauerkraut ?

Anonymous said...

Since this is a meal for one person, I would personally reduce the ingredients down to 2 tbsp peanut butter and two tbsp coconut milk for the sauce and only use one piece of bread. Ideally, I think it would be best over noodles for lunch or dinner.

Michael Dembinski said...

stuff - you are right - two spoons of both suffice for one person. This is so good I've made it for breakfast and evening snack for five meals in a row!

jan - it is better to take a tradition and modernise it than just for abandon it altogether :-)

Anonymous said...

It's funny how these things come to mind at odd times, but I thought about adding fresh cilantro to this dish this morning while opening my fridge. That would really top it off (if you like it, that is).

Michael Dembinski said...

Stuff - if by cilantro you mean corriander leaf, then absolutely! I had thought of this, but it's out of season and not available in the shops yet.

jan said...

Well, I didn't (just) mean to tease you with my comment. I'm wondering if the spiritual bit of fasting is somehow affected by the dietary part. It's common knowledge that what we eat affects our behaviour (agression or ability to focus are in some part food dependent), so maybe far-east spirituality is as different from middle-european as is cooking ?

Anonymous said...

Yes, I did mean coriander leaf. We call the seed "coriander" and the leaf "cilantro."

Well, I made the Dimbinski Special tonight, and it was fabulous! Since I put it over rice, I added more coconut milk to make it saucier. I used a jalapeno pepper, but only half since you listed "small" pepper (I wasn't sure what type you used). So then I tasted it and it needed freshly ground pepper and salt (I love Kosher), and a good spattering of chopped, fresh cilantro. It truly was a great dish over rice!