These sautéed prawns with fresh ginger and black pepper are an ideal dish for impressing guests at home. You can serve them as a starter or as a main course, accompanied by fried rice or a green salad to balance the aromatic, spicy notes of the ginger and pepper. Whether you use fresh or frozen prawns, or king prawns, the result is full of flavour and has an Indian-inspired touch that I personally love.
I recommend making this dish in a cast-iron frying pan such as the Lodge skillet. The great advantage of cast iron is its excellent heat retention, which allows us to cook at high temperatures. It is fabulous for sautéing prawns because they need very little cooking time. Cast iron maintains its temperature and sears the prawns immediately, without allowing them to release too much water. They become golden on the outside and remain juicy on the inside, retaining all their flavour.
You will see that these sautéed prawns with fresh ginger and black pepper are ready in next to no time. Prepare a little bread for mopping up the sauce and enjoy the recipe – it is absolutely delicious!
Ingredients
- 450 g prawns (you can use king prawns)
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 level tablespoons fresh ginger, peeled and cut into very fine julienne strips
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander
- 1½ teaspoons crushed black peppercorns
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- Juice of half a lemon or half a lime
- Salt to taste
- The green parts of two spring onions, thinly sliced
Method
- Heat the olive oil over a medium-low heat in your Lodge cast-iron skillet.
- While the oil is heating, peel the prawns or king prawns, leaving the final shell segment and tail attached, and devein them. Pat away any excess moisture with a little kitchen paper. Set aside.
- Turn the heat up slightly and add the julienned ginger. Stir and cook until it is lightly golden and caramelised, approximately 2 minutes.
- Add the ground coriander, crushed black peppercorns and half a teaspoon of sugar. Stir and allow everything to heat for approximately 10–15 seconds.
- Once the frying pan is very hot, add the prawns and cook them, keeping them moving, until they change colour and turn pink. This will not take long, approximately 2 minutes.
- Turn off the heat, season with salt to taste and add the lime or lemon juice and sliced spring onions. Mix gently and serve directly from the frying pan to keep the prawns warm. Enjoy!
Suggestions
- The ginger, cut into fine julienne strips and cooked before adding the prawns, gives the dish an aromatic, spicy note. It does not have the same intense, sharp flavour as it would if added fresh. Nevertheless, should you prefer a milder flavour and want the ginger to be less noticeable, you can use a little less or reduce the quantity by half.
- The prawns or king prawns can be fresh or frozen. If using frozen prawns, allow them to defrost beforehand and dry them thoroughly with kitchen paper so that they lose as much water as possible. Cooked briefly in a very hot frying pan, they will turn out perfectly.
