I made this last night. A concoction of several recipes with my own twist and it was so tasty I thought, I must share it with you.
The best thing is that is only takes around 15 minutes from start to finish. It’s a storecupboard meal that you can rustle up in a jiffy.
You do need Gochujang, a Vietnamese fermented chilli paste that’s fragrant and spicy but not too hot. You can find it in oriental shops and it lasts for ages in the fridge. Once you’ve discovered this paste you’ll wonder why you never had it before – there’s no going back.
It’s made from glutinous rice, fermented soybeans, red chilli pepper flakes and salt and has a glorious sweet, spicy flavour loaded with umami addictiveness.
For 2 people you’ll need:
250g raw prawns *see note 1
A cup of frozen peas (or thereabouts, no need to measure too carefully)
200ml of coconut cream (one small carton)
200ml water
1 tablespoon of Gochujang paste
1 teaspoon of curry powder
Half a teaspoon of stock powder *see note 2
An onion (I used a red one but any will do)
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
2 sheets of instant noodles
A red chilli finely sliced *see note 3
The finely grated rind of half a lemon & 2 teaspoons of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of oil
Method:
Heat the oil in a large pan or wok and gently fry the onion for a couple of minutes until softened.
Add the garlic, stir for a minute or two and then tip in the frozen peas and stir for a minute.
Add the coconut cream, the water, half a teaspoon of stock powder, the Gochujang paste, and curry powder.
Add the prawns and cook for a minute until they start to turn opaque then push everything to one side and pop in the 2 sheets of instant noodles.
Leave the noodles in the bubbling sauce for a minute and then turn them over (you may need or want to add a little more water at this point).
Break up the noodles and submerge them in the sauce and then mix everything together.
Add the lemon juice, give it all a final stir and serve in bowls with a finely chopped chilli (avoid if you don’t like things too hot) and the finely grated lemon rind.
Don’t be tempted to skip the lemon rind. It really makes the dish and lifts the flavour.
Et voila! Bon appetit!
Notes:
- Raw prawns are preferable but you can also used cooked. I used defrosted frozen, deveined and shelled ones from the oriential supermarket. It cost me around 11 euros for 800g and that will provide me with 4 meals for the two of us so pretty good value and much cheaper than buying them in the supermarket.
- You can use any stock powder; veggie, fish or chicken. If using a cube then I’d suggested using half a cube.
- A tip I learnt from friends John and Sheila recently. Roll the chilli between your fingers for a minute, chop the end off and shake the seeds out. That way you’ll have perfect tiny rings for garnish and also avoid the seeds and membrane which can be very hot.
