Nam Jim king prawns
This tangy Thai-style dressing really livens up these meaty pan-fried prawns – it’s a great help-yourself dish which is big on flavour but requires minimal time and effort
Ingredients
- groundnut oil
- 20 raw peeled king prawns , tails left on, from sustainable sources
- 2 spring onions
- NAM JIM DRESSING
- 2 limes
- 1 long green chilli
- 1 bunch of fresh coriander
- 4 cm piece of ginger
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 25 g palm sugar
- CRISPY NOODLES
- sunflower oil , for frying
- 40 g vermicelli rice noodles
Directions
- First, make the nam jim dressing. Finely grate the lime zest into a food processor, and squeeze in the juice. Deseed the chilli, roughly chop the coriander and peel and roughly chop the ginger, then add to the processor.
- Drizzle over the fish sauce, then add the palm sugar, and blitz until finely chopped. Season to taste and set aside.
- Pour 3cm of sunflower oil into a wide, deep saucepan and place over a medium heat until the oil reaches 180ºC on a thermometer. You can also test that the oil is hot enough with a little bit of noodle – it should crisp up and turn lightly golden.
- Meanwhile, break up the noodles into 5cm strips. Prepare a plate lined with kitchen paper and have a slotted spoon ready. Fry the noodles in the oil, in batches for 30 seconds at a time, turning halfway through, then transfer to your lined plate to drain.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of groundnut oil in a large frying pan over a medium–high heat, add the prawns and fry for 4 minutes, turning halfway through, or until cooked through and lightly golden – you may need to work in batches.
- Tip the prawns onto a serving dish, drizzle over the nam jim dressing and toss to combine. Trim and finely slice the spring onions.
- To serve, sprinkle the crispy noodles and spring onions over the prawns, then bring to the table with lots of forks and let people dig in.