Prawns in coconut and ginger sauce with Thai rice

In summer we like to enjoy light and healthy meals. It is a great time to make lots of use of the grill and, of course, the wok too. You will love the recipe brought to us by Virginia, author of Sweet&Sour , as it is very easy to prepare, tasty and very original.

Today we have a quick and international meal, with a combination of Thai cuisine. Thai prawns with coconut and ginger, with a slightly spicy touch, softened by the aromatic touch of coconut milk.

In the photo, Bérard olive wood cutting board , and Ken Hom wok .

As you can imagine, we are not going to accompany these prawns with bread, which would be almost sacrilege, but with Thai rice or Jasmine rice, with its aromatic and soft aroma, which goes perfectly with the coconut sauce. The rice will soak up the flavor of the prawns. and it will collect all the sauce and each bite will be like transporting you to a remote place in Thailand.

It is divine when freshly made, but for my taste, if we let it rest for an hour, it is even better, since this way we give the stew time to settle the flavors and you don't know how. Just don't overheat the dish, or you will ruin the prawns with coconut milk.

I have prepared it in my Ken-Hom Wok , which has allowed me to sauté the onions and prawns very quickly, at a high temperature, leaving them completely juicy, as I explained when we talked about " Cooking with a Wok ", but in addition the wok is not only used for sautéing, but it has also served to stew later, in just 6-8 minutes, this dish with this exquisite coconut and ginger sauce, which is finger-licking good. As you can see, a quick, complete dish that is special to eat and does not waste time in the kitchen, especially now that the good weather has arrived and what we want is to go out and enjoy the outdoors.

Among the spices we have used to prepare the seasoning, there is turmeric, which gives it that intense yellow color. Traditionally called the "queen of spices". Let's go with the recipe!

Ingredients

(For 4 servings)

• 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
• 4 cloves of crushed garlic
• 2 teaspoons of turmeric powder
• 1 small red chilli, seeded and finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 2 onions cut into strips
• 500gr fresh prawns (unpeeled tail only)
• 2 tomatoes, peeled and seeded, cut into small squares
• 180ml coconut milk
• Ground black pepper
• Fresh cilantro
• Salt
• Thai rice

Preparation

First we cook the Thai Rice:

Thai rice is a long grain rice, slightly translucent, which is usually steamed in bamboo baskets. In this case we can also cook it in our wok, filling the wok with water and placing the bamboo basket on top, without letting it touch the water, with the same process as the traditional Western method, but instead of keeping it in the water for 10 minutes, we will keep it steamed for 20 minutes. The rest is the same.

1. To cook it in the traditional Western way, we wash the rice under cold tap water to remove excess starch and prevent it from becoming lumpy. Although it does not have as much starch as our round rice, it is advisable to do this. If we are going to steam it, we can even soak it for a couple of hours and the cooking time will be reduced by half (10 minutes).
2. Place a medium, heavy-bottomed pot on high heat and add 1 cup of rice and 1 cup of water. The thick bottom of our pot will help prevent the rice from burning. Keep an eye on it, though. When it starts to boil, add the salt, lower the heat to low-medium and cover the pot. Leave it like this for about 10 minutes, until the rice is tender. Remove from the heat and let it rest for about 5-10 minutes without uncovering the pot.
3. Fluff the rice with a fork, separating the grains, and place in a container. Set aside.

Let's go with the prawns in coconut and ginger sauce:

First of all, we will proceed to prepare all our ingredients, "mise en place", because this dish, as I have already warned you, can be prepared in less than 15 minutes, but we must have everything prepared beforehand to add it to our wok .

1. We begin by preparing the seasoning that will give color and flavor to our dish. I use the coffee grinder (I no longer use it for anything else) but you can also do it in the mortar . We mix the grated ginger, the pressed or crushed garlic, the turmeric powder, the chopped and seeded chilli, and the vinegar. We grind until a thick, yellow paste is formed, and we set aside.
2. Peel the onions and cut them into thin strips. Set aside.
3. We peel and seed the tomato and cut it into small squares.
4. We remove the heads from the prawns (they will be used to prepare an exquisite seafood stock) and keep the tails intact, unpeeled. We set them aside.
5. We put our wok on the fire. When it smokes, we add the two tablespoons of sesame oil and the onions, we sauté without stopping stirring at any time, either with a wooden spoon or with wrist movements, turning the onions around the container. We add the seasoning almost immediately and continue stirring everything, so that it is impregnated with the seasoning, until the onions look soft (2 minutes).
6. Add the prawns and sauté for another 2 minutes in the same way, until they have taken on that beautiful orange colour.
7. Add the tomato and sauté for another 2 minutes with the rest of the ingredients.
8. It's time to add the coconut milk. Mix well, cover and let simmer for about 6 minutes, until the sauce thickens slightly and the prawns are tender. Ready.
9. We add the ground pepper and season with salt.
10. We serve it covered with chopped cilantro and accompanied by our Thai Rice.

Enjoy.
Virginia.