This week, I had some pre-prepped prawns and mixed seafood left in the fridge, and most of the other ingredients needed in this recipe (such as chopped garlic, chillies, ginger, coriander, madras curry paste, spicy bean paste, soya sauce and Shaoxing rice wine) are all part of my spice cupboard/standard fridge stock, I decided to try this recipe. The recipe is from Ken Hom’s My Kitchen Table: 100 Quick Stir-fry Recipes. You can find the full Fragrant Prawn Curry recipe in Google Books.

Making this is really quick and simple, and as with most stir-fry recipes, it’s really flexible. For example, I’ve used some seafood to bump up the prawns, because there was only enough prawns for one person’s serving left in my fridge, and in the spirit of not wasting food (which Ken Hom mentioned in his interview), this worked just as well. Also, I like my food very spicy, so chose to not only use more chilies, but also to leave the seeds in.

Cooking and prep took no longer than 10 minutes – just prep the prawns (if need-be) and spices, then stir fry the spices before dropping in the prawns and, later, the sauces.

 My version (with the extra chillies and seeds in) was eye-wateringly spicy – which was perfect for me. All the spices and sauces worked perfectly together and made the flavours quite strong – great with lots of rice. If you decide the try the recipe, let me know if you enjoyed it as much as I did!