Read Online Forever Summer by Nigella Lawson - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Nigella Lawson
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cooked through but still very tender. Let both rice and prawns cool, then give the sauce a quick stir and spoon some over the rice, fork this through and then tumble the prawns on top, spooning a little more sauce over as you go.
Serves 2 as a main course; 4 as a starter.
MAURITIAN PRAWN CURRY
Mostly I cook in lieu of travelling, but this is my way of reminding myself that I once was that person who sat in the shade on gold sand under blue skies gazing at an ocean bluer still…
This is a sprightly curry, fierily orange and warm with cinnamon and nutmeg. Make some plain basmati rice to go with it and you’re done.
1 tablespoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
half teaspoon chilli powder
quarter teaspoon mace
4cm piece fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic
1 onion
salt
2 tablespoons groundnut oil
1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
juice and zest of half a lemon
1 stick cinnamon
1 tablespoon curry leaves
750g medium raw prawns, shelled and deveined
good grating nutmeg
handful chopped fresh coriander
3–4 green finger chillies
Measure out the turmeric, coriander, cumin, chilli powder and mace into a bowl and grate over the peeled ginger and garlic cloves with a microplane. Add a little water to form a paste, and then leave to one side. Finely chop the onion, adding a bit of Maldon salt to stop it catching, and fry gently in the oil until it softens. Stir in the spice paste and, stirring still, cook for a minute or so. Pour in the tomatoes, then fill the empty can with water and add it to the pan. Squeeze in the lemon juice and pop in the cinnamon stick and curry leaves, and let the whole sauce simmer gently for about half an hour so that it can thicken and the ground spices will lose their floury taste.
When you are ready to eat – and you can cook the sauce well in advance if this suits – add the raw prawns and let them cook through. Keep tasting them to make sure they have lost their glassy middle.
Pour the curry into a shallow bowl and grate well with fresh nutmeg and the lemon zest. Sprinkle over the coriander, and split the finger chillies lengthwise leaving their stalks and seeds intact (unless you are a wuss about such matters, in which case deseed by all means). Arrange them as artistically as you please over the dish.
Serves 4–6.
BARBECUED SEA BASS WITH PRESERVED LEMONS
You don’t need to barbecue the sea bass for this: wrap it in foil and bake it in the oven if that’s easier. Similarly, you don’t need to use sea bass, which, though delicious, is expensive. The point is, any fish goes with these lemons which are preserved not quite in the usual way of being steeped in salt for weeks but are quickly blanched and then cooked in a light, briney syrup. The advantages are twofold: you can prepare the lemons just the day before you need to use them rather than having to get yourself efficiently ahead of yourself by starting the lemons ten days before (who knows what they’re going to do, let alone going to cook, ten days in advance?); and this method tamps down rather than points up their rasping acidity, providing a mellow fruitfulness rather than acerbic tang.
for the preserved lemons:
4 unwaxed lemons
250g caster sugar
100g Maldon salt
500ml water
Cut each lemon into quarters, removing any pips or white pith. Cook in a large saucepan of boiling water for 5 minutes, then drain them and put the lemon quarters in a bowl of cold water and leave to soak for an hour.
Mix the sugar, salt and the measured water in a saucepan and put on the heat to dissolve. Drain the lemon quarters and add to the pan, bring them to the boil and then turn down the heat and let them simmer until the skins are tender, which should take about 20 minutes. Remove the lemons to a Kilner jar or similar and then reduce the syrup a little by letting it bubble away over high heat on the hob for a while, and pour over the lemons in the jar. The lemons will be ready to use the following day,
Serves 2 as a main course; 4 as a starter.
MAURITIAN PRAWN CURRY
Mostly I cook in lieu of travelling, but this is my way of reminding myself that I once was that person who sat in the shade on gold sand under blue skies gazing at an ocean bluer still…
This is a sprightly curry, fierily orange and warm with cinnamon and nutmeg. Make some plain basmati rice to go with it and you’re done.
1 tablespoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
half teaspoon chilli powder
quarter teaspoon mace
4cm piece fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic
1 onion
salt
2 tablespoons groundnut oil
1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
juice and zest of half a lemon
1 stick cinnamon
1 tablespoon curry leaves
750g medium raw prawns, shelled and deveined
good grating nutmeg
handful chopped fresh coriander
3–4 green finger chillies
Measure out the turmeric, coriander, cumin, chilli powder and mace into a bowl and grate over the peeled ginger and garlic cloves with a microplane. Add a little water to form a paste, and then leave to one side. Finely chop the onion, adding a bit of Maldon salt to stop it catching, and fry gently in the oil until it softens. Stir in the spice paste and, stirring still, cook for a minute or so. Pour in the tomatoes, then fill the empty can with water and add it to the pan. Squeeze in the lemon juice and pop in the cinnamon stick and curry leaves, and let the whole sauce simmer gently for about half an hour so that it can thicken and the ground spices will lose their floury taste.
When you are ready to eat – and you can cook the sauce well in advance if this suits – add the raw prawns and let them cook through. Keep tasting them to make sure they have lost their glassy middle.
Pour the curry into a shallow bowl and grate well with fresh nutmeg and the lemon zest. Sprinkle over the coriander, and split the finger chillies lengthwise leaving their stalks and seeds intact (unless you are a wuss about such matters, in which case deseed by all means). Arrange them as artistically as you please over the dish.
Serves 4–6.
BARBECUED SEA BASS WITH PRESERVED LEMONS
You don’t need to barbecue the sea bass for this: wrap it in foil and bake it in the oven if that’s easier. Similarly, you don’t need to use sea bass, which, though delicious, is expensive. The point is, any fish goes with these lemons which are preserved not quite in the usual way of being steeped in salt for weeks but are quickly blanched and then cooked in a light, briney syrup. The advantages are twofold: you can prepare the lemons just the day before you need to use them rather than having to get yourself efficiently ahead of yourself by starting the lemons ten days before (who knows what they’re going to do, let alone going to cook, ten days in advance?); and this method tamps down rather than points up their rasping acidity, providing a mellow fruitfulness rather than acerbic tang.
for the preserved lemons:
4 unwaxed lemons
250g caster sugar
100g Maldon salt
500ml water
Cut each lemon into quarters, removing any pips or white pith. Cook in a large saucepan of boiling water for 5 minutes, then drain them and put the lemon quarters in a bowl of cold water and leave to soak for an hour.
Mix the sugar, salt and the measured water in a saucepan and put on the heat to dissolve. Drain the lemon quarters and add to the pan, bring them to the boil and then turn down the heat and let them simmer until the skins are tender, which should take about 20 minutes. Remove the lemons to a Kilner jar or similar and then reduce the syrup a little by letting it bubble away over high heat on the hob for a while, and pour over the lemons in the jar. The lemons will be ready to use the following day,
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