Garlic prawns

Chilli garlic prawns and rice

Posted by Gary

Chilli garlic prawns and rice

I did a linguine and garlic prawns a few weeks ago. Tonight, I thought I’d do something with an Asian bent.

Stir-fried Garlic, Ginger, Chilli, and Prawns with white rice.

Ingredients

  • Raw prawns (large banana prawns)
  • Tomato sauce
  • Soy sauce
  • Sweet chilli sauce
  • Garlic (sliced with a mandolin)
  • Ginger (grated)
  • Chilli flakes
  • Chilli (cut in strips)
  • Spring onion
  • White onion
  • Whole black peppercorns (freshly ground)
  • Rice
  • Broccoli florets

Instructions

  1. Marinate the raw prawns (with the shell on) in a bowl of tomato sauce, sweet chilli sauce, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and chilli flakes.
  2. Leave the prawns in the marinade in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.
  3. Cook the rice however you please.
  4. Heat a wok until it’s smoking hot.
  5. Add in some high vapour point oil, e.g., Queensland nut oil.
  6. Fry off some garlic, ginger, spring onions and white onions and then add in the prawns and marinade.
  7. Cook the prawns by stir-frying them until they turn red. 
  8. Add in the broccoli florets and mix everything until the broccoli florets soften a little.
  9. Serve in a bowl and eat with the rice using chopsticks.
  10. Some people will want to eat the prawns by sucking them off and then breaking the head off and sucking its head. The next step is peeling the prawns and eating the chilli-flavoured hot flesh. 
  11. I do it differently; I hold the prawn with my chopsticks and suck the juice off it and then eat the whole prawn, including the shell, head, and legs.
  12. If I was cooking this for someone else, I would peel the prawns and remove the alimentary canal first because I know most people would prefer it that way.

Final thoughts

How do you eat prawns?

  • Fresh ginger and garlic
  • Chilli Ginger Garlic Marinade
  • Raw Large Tiger Prawns
  • Raw Large Tiger Prawns in Chilli Ginger Garlic Marinade
  • Raw Large Tiger Prawns in Chilli Ginger Garlic Marinade
  • Spring onions White onion Chilli
  • Stir-frying Garlic, Ginger, Chilli, and Prawns in a wok.
  • Stir-fried Garlic, Ginger, Chilli, and Prawns with white rice.
  • Stir-fried Garlic, Ginger, Chilli, and Prawns with white rice.
  • Stir-fried Garlic, Ginger, Chilli, and Prawns with white rice.

Old Bay cauliflower soup

Posted by Gary

Old Bay cauliflower soup with garlic butter prawns

Dedicated to my youngest daughter

Who I traumatised with cauliflower soup

Old bay cauliflower soup with garlic butter prawns for dinner on a cold winter night. A comfort meal if ever there was one.

When we lived in Darwin, I traumatised my youngest daughter with cauliflower soup.

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How to cook low carb garlic prawns

Posted by Gary
Raw garlic prawns and parsley

Prawns are not cheap but they are tasty and with a low carb dish in mind I wanted something a little different from beef, lamb, poultry and pork. I will have salmon early next week and so I thought another seafood option for a quick and easy dinner would be a creamy garlic prawns dish.

As much as I like garlic I rarely cook with it. I can always tell when I’m emitting a strong garlic odour and in deference to the people around me I usually refrain. Tonight though these prawns needed a little kick of flavour and garlic would do that.

Raw garlic prawns and parsley
Raw garlic prawns and parsley

Amazing low carb garlic prawns
Recipe Type: Dinner
Cuisine: Australian
Author: Gary Lum
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 1
Ingredients
  • Green uncooked prawns
  • Garlic
  • Lemon juice
  • Pepper
  • Salt
  • Parsley
  • Cream
  • White wine
  • Almond flakes
  • Parmesan
Instructions
  1. In a bowl marinade the prawns with some crushed garlic, salt, pepper, lemon juice and olive oil for 1 hour (or overnight in the refrigerator)
  2. In a hot pan heat up some oil and butter to the point where the butter bubbles
  3. Add the prawns and cook for 3 minutes
  4. Turn down the heat and add a splash of white wine and a splash of cream, cook for 1 minute
  5. Take off the heat and add the parsley and almond flakes plus some grated parmesan
  6. Pour into a shallow bowl and a shoot a photograph
  7. Eat the prawns
  8. Wash the dishes
  9. Write the recipe
  10. Blog (verb)

 

Freshly chopped parsley
Freshly chopped parsley

Creamy garlic prawns and parsley
Creamy garlic prawns and parsley

These garlic prawns were really very nice and so quick and easy to make. If you prepare the prawns the night before you can have them waiting for you to cook after returning home from work. If I wasn’t eating low carb, a nice piece of crusty bread would be great with this, perhaps even some cheese toast. An alternative would be to serve them with a little rice and/or quinoa.

Creamy garlic prawns and parsley
Creamy garlic prawns and parsley

Do you like garlic prawns? How do you cook them?

Blue whipped cream dessert
Blue whipped cream dessert

Polynesian Cultural Center Oahu Hawaii All you can eat!

Posted by Gary

So it’s Monday and we have tickets to the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie on the North Shore of Oahu. Our tickets include the Island buffet plus the show known as Hã Breath of life. 

But first things first. Bron offered to make pancakes for breakfast. 

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We then go for a snorkel at Kuilima Cove

 

 

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After the snorkelling we got ready for the Polynesian Cultural Center by stopping at Tita’s Grill on 56–485 Kamehameha Highway, Hauula, HI 96717.

I went with the garlic prawns and garlic chips. The prawns come with rice and macaroni cheese. The chips are covered in crushed garlic. I felt like a clove of garlic all afternoon and evening. 

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The prawns were really good and as is my want to avoid mess and give me a calcium boost I just pop an entire prawn in my mouth and chew the whole thing down. The chips came with a dipping sauce which I think was a mayonnaise. I’d happily recommend Tita’s Grill’s garlic prawns to anyone. You may want to go for the combo which I think has its own small serve of chips rather than the standard serve of chips that I had in addition.

When we got to the PCC we watched the canal presentation with the various Polynesian islands represented. We also watched presentations on Samoa, Aotearoa (New Zealand) and Tonga. 

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The Samoan presentation was all about the coconut and its many uses. I learnt so much about the coconut tree and how it can be used. 2015.04.20_15.36.03_004_GARY_LUM_FB

The Aotearoa presentation was interesting. It was nicely ended by a tribute of respect to all warfighters. Veterans in the audience were asked to stand and be acknowledged. I hope this Saturday on ANZAC day they do something special given it’s the centenary of ANZAC.2015.04.20_16.00.51_003_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_16.00.57_002_GARY_LUM_FB 2015.04.20_16.02.42_001_GARY_LUM_FB

The Tongans were all about drumming and making the audience laugh. I haven’t laughed like that in years.

Before the show we ate in the Island buffet. There are three dining selections depending on how much the tickets cost. I went with the cheapest option so we ate at the Island buffet. It was an all you can eat affair featuring pulled pork, fried chicken, poached fish, rice, mashed potatoes and gravy plus desserts consisting of jelly, mochi, haupia pudding, pineapple slice, cakes and bread pudding. 

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The show at the end was really good and almost like a Disney production in terms of quality. It was the life story of Mana and Lani and worked through the various Polynesian peoples. I was particularly taken by the Fijian effort given my father was born in Fiji. 

All in all the PCC was really very interesting. The price of tickets is quite steep but the owners claim it’s a not for profit affair.

 

I highly recommend the Polynesian Cultural Center