I do like a good grilled prawn no matter where I am in the world. When I worked in Mumbai I used to visit a famous seafood restaurant called Trishna and my wife and I would always have the same meal, large Bombay Sapphire and tonic, then Kingfisher beers with tandoori prawns, followed by crab curry and appams. The prawns were always great and my favourite part of the meal.
My most memorable meal on my last trip to Andalucia was in a tiny seafood bar, where we had amazing prawns ‘a la pancha’, simply grilled with salt, they were succulent and sweet as anything.
But my favourite grilled prawns need the quintessential Thai seafood sauce nam jim talay or as sometimes called by the Thais nam jim seafood. Garlicky, sour and hot, this sauce really brings out the best in any fish, but it worked especially well with grilled prawns, sticky fingers and ice cold Singha beer. The prawns really should be grilled whole as the heads have amazing flavour when given a good suck.
Ingredients
- 5 good sized prawns*
- 1 teaspoon of sugar
- 3 green chillies
- 1 tablespoon of coriander root* (if you can’t find root use 2 tablespoons of stalk)
- 1 garlic clove
- 2 tablespoons of lime juice
- 1/2 tablespoon of fish sauce
Method
First you have to devein the prawns. You can simply do this by cutting down the back of the shell and slicing open the back and removing the intestinal tract. This will however expose a lot of flesh and allow for precious moisture to escape whilst cooking so if you have a few extra minutes I recommend keeping the shell as intact as possible. To do this we simply snip one of the, for want of a better word, ‘armour plates’ from the back of the prawn. Don’t snip the first, closest to the head as this can allow the red juice from the head to leak out and it can look like the thing has been shot in the head, so snip the second plate along from the head.
With a toothpick gently lift up the food tract and try to remove it in one piece.
Sometimes the tract will break leaving some towards the tail. If this happens just snip another plate close to the tail and remove with the toothpick as before.
Next make the nam jim talay sauce. In a pestle and mortar grind the chillies with the sugar to a paste, add the coriander root and grind into the paste, when fully incorporated add the garlic and grind into the paste.
Add the lime juice and the fish sauce, ensure that the sugar dissolves. 
Check the seasoning, it should be sour, spicy and only slightly sweet, add more fish sauce, sugar or lime as needed.
To grill the prawns lightly oil a griddle pan and cook for a couple of minutes on each side.
You can tell when they are done as all the grey colour will have turned to pink.
Serve immediately with the dipping sauce. Delicious!
*A note on ingredients
Coriander root is notoriously hard to find. On the plus side it freezes well so when you do find it you can buy in bulk. For those local to me in Leeds, The Hang Sing Hong supermarket and Nong Fern Thai supermarket on Vicar Lane occasionally have them. If you do not have coriander root use twice the amount of coriander stalks.
Leeds Kirkgate Market is great for whole pawns which can be bought fresh or frozen by the kilo from several of the fish stalls. Supermarkets such as Sainsbury’s also do whole frozen prawns but you will pay more.
Rice and Relish 