Ixta Belfrage's Tropical Prawns with Plantain & Pickled Shallots

A fruity, fishy prawn and plantain plate from guest chef Ixta Belfrage's new book Fusão

10-12 minutes prep

17 minutes cook

Serves 4

Guest Contributor

Ingredients

Prawns and oil:

12 x 35gshell-on prawns

2 whole red bird’s-eye chillies

2whole green bird’s-eye chillies

120golive oil

fine sea salt

¾ tsp ground urucum (aka annatto/achiote) plus a little extra to serve

40gtomato purée/paste

Everything else:

1banana shallot, peeled and sliced into 3mm rings (use a mandolin if you have one)

3limes, juiced to get 60g

15grice vinegar

2 small, very ripe plantains

1 tbsp ghee (homemade or from a jar, not from a tin)

2½ tsp ginger–garlic mix

2 tbspfresh coriander stalks, very finely chopped

Twisted's Cookbook Club returns with one of Ixta's fave recipes from her new book – prawns in prawn head oil with pickled shallots and plantain. Like pretty much all of Ixta’s recipes, the flavours here are BIG, inspired by a dish from a seafood bar called Adega Pérola in Rio de Janeiro. In fact, the whole cookbook is a love letter to Brazil, where her mother is from. If nothing else, let this convince you to try fruit and seafood together. Done right, it can be pretty special.

Method

Remove the heads and peel the shells from the prawns, keeping the tails on. Place the heads and shells in a frying pan off the heat. You should have about 260g of peeled, tail-on prawns.

Slice down the back of the prawns to slightly butterfly them open, then devein them.

Place the peeled, tail-on prawns in a bowl with the chillies, 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, ½ teaspoon of fine sea salt and the urucum. Gently mix and set aside.

To make the prawn oil, add the tomato purée and 100g of olive oil to the pan of prawn heads and shells. Place on a high heat and stir-fry until the shells become bright pink, about 3½ minutes. Place a sieve over a bowl and spoon the prawn heads, shells and oil into the sieve. Press down on the heads to extract as much liquid and flavour as possible.

Put the sliced shallot into a separate bowl with the lime juice, vinegar and ½ teaspoon of fine sea salt. Mix and set aside.

Peel the plantains and cut into 2cm-thick rounds. Wipe the frying pan clean. Add the ghee to the pan and place on a very low heat. Once melted, add the plantain, spaced apart, and sprinkle over ¼ teaspoon of fine sea salt evenly. Cover with a lid and gently cook for 5 minutes, then flip the plantain and gently cook for another 5 minutes. You’re not trying to brown or fry the plantain slices, you want them to steam and soften, so keep the heat low.

Pour the ghee into the bowl of prawn oil and set the cooked plantain aside. Wipe the frying pan clean and place on a high heat. Once very hot, add the prawns and chillies to the pan, spread out as much as possible and fry for 1½ minutes on each side.

Remove the pan from the heat, then add the ginger–garlic mix, the prawn head oil, the cooked plantain and the coriander stalks. Finely slice 1 of the red chillies and 1 of the green chillies, put them back into the pan and gently mix everything together.

Transfer to a platter and top with some of the pickled shallots (you won’t need them all) and a sprinkling of urucum. Drizzle over some of the shallot pickling liquid and serve with more fresh lime squeezed on top,