South East Asian prawn cocktail

“This classic British dish usually calls for boiled prawns covered in a thick cocktail sauce made from mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce, tomato sauce and Tabasco. Here, I have transformed this traditional dish into something with a fresher, lighter, South East Asian flavour.” Luke Nguyen, Luke Nguyen's United Kingdom

Credit: Alan Benson

• serves

  4

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  5 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 120 g snow peas
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• ¼ red onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cm piece of ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 tsp sambal oelek
• 450 g large raw prawns, peeled and deveined, tails intact
• juice of 2 limes
• 2 x 300 g semi-ripe mangoes, peeled and julienned
• coriander sprigs, to garnish

Sauce

• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 2 tsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil

Instructions

Bring a saucepan of water to the boil and blanch the snow peas for 1 minute. Drain and briefly refresh in cold water, then drain again. Finely slice the snow peas lengthways.

To make the dressing, whisk together the mustard, vinegar and oil in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Toss the snow peas and mango with the dressing in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Heat a wok over medium heat, then add the oil and cook the onion and ginger for 3 minutes until caramelised. Add the sambal oelek and prawns and stir-fry for 2 minutes, or until the prawns are just cooked. Deglaze with the lime juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Toss the snow peas with the mango and combine all of the salad ingredients. Transfer the mango salad into 4 cocktail glasses, then place the cooked prawns on top and garnish with coriander sprigs.

Photography by Alan Benson. Styling by Michelle Noerianto. Food preparation by Nick Banbury.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.