Recipe on page 110
Recipe on page 115
On a cold winter’s evening, the right combination of spices adds oomph to a quickly-prepared meal and warms you up from the inside!
Yellow rice with prawns
This quick meal is a sumptuous spoil. It’s my version of Fatima Sydow’s prawn ahkni from her book Cape, Curry and Koesisters, co-authored with Gadija Sydow Noordien. On weeknights, I substitute the seafood with mini chicken fillets since the rice is the star of the dish for me.
Serves 4
Preparation: 35 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
• 30ml olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1 yellow pepper, chopped
• 1 red chilli (or to taste), chopped
• 3 cardamom pods, crushed
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 5ml cumin seeds
• 5ml chopped fresh garlic
• 5ml grated fresh ginger • 10ml paprika
• 15ml seafood masala (or mild curry powder)
• a fresh bay leaf
• 5ml turmeric
• 250ml basmati rice
• 800g butterflied prawns, shell on, deveined
• about 30ml butter
• fresh coriander and extra chilli flakes, to serve
Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the onion, peppers, chilli, cardamom, cinnamon and cumin seeds until the onion is soft and starting to brown. Stir in the garlic, ginger, paprika, masala, bay leaf and half of the turmeric. Stir in a large splash of boiling water and simmer gently while you cook the rice. Bring a pot of salted water to the boil. Stir the rice and the rest of the turmeric into If you’d like, you can also stir about 125ml frozen peas into the prawns and sprinkle some toasted coconut shavings on top for added texture.
