Upon realizing J is not allergic to prawns, this dish has appeared on our dinner menu at least once a week. Why? It is quick, completes in under 10 minutes, can be made in advance and is delicious.

Good quality prawns were hard to find in New Zealand many moons ago, and you’ll have to pay a premium for them. In the last few years, the market has opened up and it is now very easy to buy good quality and affordable prawns even in the supermarket.

All you need here are the prawns, some ice, and thousand island dressing. For this dish, I prefer using the frozen, shelled but uncooked ones. It offers an easy start for my dish and saves me time. Flavour wise, it does not make a significant difference. It does however make a huge difference in cost when compared to fresh prawns!

It can be served as an appetizer, or like any Asian meals, as part of a wider array of dishes shared amongst the diners. This is a dish S and I had many years ago at a restaurant, when we were still dating. In the end we decided that we didn’t need to order that from a restaurant when we can easily do it ourselves ( yes indeed this is one even S can achieve !!!)

Ingredients
300g Prawns, shelled, uncooked
1 cup of ice
3 tbsp thousand island dressing

Instructions
Defrost the prawns by rinsing them in water, leave it to drain in a colander.

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Salt the water with 1 tsp of salt and add the prawns in.

Once the prawns has changed to a pink colour, leave it to cook for a further 30 seconds. Then, strain it and put it in a bowl with the ice. This stops them from over cooking and retains a nice crunch when you bite into it.

Mix the prawns with the ice and leave it to cool.

J likes to stir them from time to time.

Drain the water off and dry the prawns by lightly patting them with a paper towel.
Add the thousand island dressing in, mix to coat evenly.

Refrigerate until service time. Just like macarons, they taste better the next day – but who can wait that long?