(Lima) Beans and Delhi Cha(a)t

Weekend with Prawns

Yes, yes, I know it’s Tuesday. But for a seasoned procrastinator like me, posting a weekend report two days later is most expected (insert blush icon here). However, when the report itself is tasty, we can afford to overlook the details, can’t we?

So last weekend saw me working with prawns in the kitchen. For two completely different end products belonging to different cuisines. The first was Fettuccine pasta with prawns and a simple olive oil sauce. The credit for this one goes to Cesar. In fact, I should give him the credit for introducing me to pasta in the first place. In cooking terms that is. I had tasted pasta in restaurants on a few occasions, but making it at home looked like a distant possibility. Until Cesar came along to share some of his home-grown expertise that is.

Anyhow, getting back to the weekend track, this easy-to-make pasta dish tastes surprisingly nice and is amongst the healthiest. Although I did make a few changes to suit my convenience, the essence of it was retained because of the main ingredient; you guessed it right—prawn. Let me share the original recipe with you first.

Shrimp Fettuccine:

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons olive oil
2 tbsp. choped parsley
1 teaspoon grated lemon skin
1/2 kg fettuccine
3 minced garlic cloves
1/4 cup white wine
Salt & pepper
1/2 kg shrimp

Method:

1. In a bowl mix two tbsp oil with parsley, lemon skin, salt & pepper.
2. Boil the fettuccine (in water with salt) and cook till al dente.
3. Join the pasta with the sauce from step 1 and put aside
4. In high temperature, heat up the rest of the oil and fry the shrimps for a minute. Then add garlic and heat for another minute.
5. Add white wine and cook, always stirring, for another 40 secs
6. Pour this on the fettuccine (put aside on step 3), mix well and serve immediately.

Cesar’s Tips:
• If you want a stronger flavor, you can add some basil leaves (no stems) during the final seconds of cooking the shrimp. Mix with the pasta and serve.
• For a better flavor, you can use freshly-crushed pepper.


My tweaks:

I used bigger-sized prawns, cut into smaller pieces. I also replaced parsley with fresh mint and coriander leaves. The taste was superb! And finally, I used vinegar in place of white wine. The last tweak is probably a travesty of the original recipe, but I didn’t want the non-availability of white wine to be a reason for staying away from relishing this dish indefinitely.

The end result was yummy to say the least. This is easily going to rate as one of my favourite pasta recipes. So do give it a try!

The other prawn delight I cooked over the weekend was Prawns Jalfrezi. I have been meaning to make this ever since I saw this post on VKN’s blog. I followed his instructions diligently, barring the addition of soya sauce. As reliable as VKN’s recipes are, this one was a hit at our home. Thanks, VKN!


I sure look forward to many more such delicious weekends. Don’t you? :P

Sury

posted by Sury at 8:40 PM