Aromatic tiger prawns

From Kate Whitman's 'The ultimate book of fish and shellfish', the prawns in this recipe were supposed to be pan-fried but we were going to do a BBQ so I decided to adapt it.  I'm very happy I did because they went down like a treat!

Serves: 4 persons.

Ingredients:

• 16 tiger prawns
• 2 dried chilies, chopped
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 5 black peppercorns
• 1 star anise, broken into pieces
• 1 cinnamon stick, broken into pieces
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 cm piece of fresh root ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 shallot, chopped
• salt & pepper to taste

Method:

1. If the prawns aren't peeled, peel them but leave the tail and devein them. I didn't do a video/photo of it but here's the picture of the same book explaining how to do it. It's time consuming so buy unpeeled if you can.
   
2. Heat a pan, put in the chilies, fennel seeds, peppercorns, star anise and cinnamon and dry-fry for 1-2 min to release the flavours. Leave to cool.
   
   
   
   
3. When cool, grind the spices coarsely in a grinder or use a mortar and pestle.
   
   
   
   
4. Heat the vegetable oil in a shallow pan, add the garlic, ginger and shallot and cook gently until very lightly coloured.
   
5. Add the ground spices, salt & pepper and cook the mixture gently for 2 min. Let it cool.
   
6. When cool, add the mixture to the prawns, mix thoroughly and leave overnight in the fridge or 2h at room temperature.
7. Thread the prawns in BBQ skewers and grill for 5 min each side.
8. Serve immediately with lime slices if wished.