At the moment this is one of my favourite Saturday night dinners. Saturday is a day when I often don’t really feel like cooking – who wants to be stuck in the kitchen while everyone else is having fun? But neither do I want to eat ‘slam it straight into the oven’ junk (well, not always!).
One recent Saturday, as I trawled through the fridge and freezer desperately trying to glean some inspiration, a bag of prawns caught my eye. I love prawns as they’re so quick and easy to cook. Dan and my youngest love them too. Sadly, my eldest hates them. I often get round this by substituting any prawns in the recipe with chorizo for her – as a result, she’s had some pretty weird dinners in the past, but as long as she’s not complaining then I’m happy.
A quick hunt through the cupboards revealed a couple of packets of naan bread but no coconut milk – my go to ingredient for a quick curry, so I had a play, and this is what I came up with.
The soft naan, warmed in the oven, makes a perfect base for food such as this and I’ve served other meals in the same way since. Topped with a few leaves for crunch and freshness, some cold crisp cucumber (which I forgot to include in the photo) and the hot garlicky herbed prawns, with the red onion, chilli and dressing sitting on top, you have a perfect Saturday night dinner. It’s even easy enough to eat in front of the T.V.
If you are not a fan of raw onion, and I am definitely not, then feel free to leave it out. However, if you’ve never soaked onion to remove its pungency before then do give it a go. You still get the crisp bite, the beautiful colour, and a little onion flavour but none of its strong acidity. If you don’t believe me then try it and see what you think. I actually like onions when they’ve been treated this way.
Open Prawn Naan
Ingredients
- 2 naan bread (plain or garlic and coriander)
For the prawns
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 clove garlic (crushed)
- 150 g large prawns
- ½ lemon (zest and juice)
- Fresh mint and coriander (1 small handful of each, finely chopped)
To assemble
- 2 handfuls of salad leaves
- ¼ cucumber (halved vertically and sliced into half moons)
- ¼ red onion (optional, finely sliced)
- turmeric and yogurt dressing
- 1 red chilli (optional, finely sliced)
Instructions
For the naan
- Pre-heat the oven to 200°C.
- Roll out a long piece of kitchen foil that will wrap round both naans.
- Briefly hold each naan under the cold running tap so that they are thoroughly wet on both sides.
- Place them next to each other on the foil and wrap them up well so the steam cannot escape (you can wrap each naan individually if you wish).
- Place in the oven until hot – about 8 minutes.
For the red onion
- Place the red onion in a sieve over the sink. Pour a kettleful of boiling water over it then immediately refresh it by running it under the cold tap. Tip the onion into a bowl and leave it to soak in cold water until you are ready to use it.
For the prawns
- Melt the butter over a medium heat.
- Add the garlic and fry for 30 seconds.
- Add the prawns, toss in the garlic butter, cook until prawns are pink throughout – 3-4 minutes.
- Add the lemon zest and juice and the chopped herbs. Stir then remove from the heat.
To assemble
- Unwrap the naans and place them on plates.
- Top with the salad leaves, cucumber, prawns and red onion if using.
- Drizzle over the dressing and sprinkle over some finely sliced red chilli if you wish.
Nutrition
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