Deep-fried prawns

Cooking nothing but Indian food for an entire year. Dan Toombs a.k.a. The Curry Guy took on the challenge, resulting in a cookbook of the same name. His deep-fried prawns are your new go-to snack for when you want to impress your friends. Or you can simply eat them all yourself. 

Dan: There’s nothing better than delicious deep-fried prawns. They may not be super healthy, but they always leave you wanting more and are worth every calorie. I recommend using the largest prawns you can find: they taste better and are easier to prepare.

Would you like to serve these prawns as part of a curry feast for friends? Preheat your oven to 150°C. Deep-fry the prawns half an hour before the guests arrive. Place the deep-fried prawns on a rack over an aluminium foil-lined dish and place the dish in the preheated oven. Then serve them from the oven on a warmed plate.

Method

1. Using a sharp knife, make an incision along the back of each prawn and remove the intestinal tract. Remove the head and the rest of the shell up to the tail. Leave the tail intact: it looks nice and makes a convenient handle. Make a slightly deeper cut along the back of each prawn so you can open it out (butterfly it). Cover the butterflied prawns with cling film and flatten them slightly with a meat mallet or the bottom of a saucepan.

2. To make the batter, mix the chickpea flour with the rice flour, baking powder, cumin seeds, spice powder and chilli powder in a bowl. Slowly whisk in about 125 millilitres of water until you have a batter with the consistency of whipped cream; the batter should coat the back of a spoon but still drip off slowly. Add a little water if the batter is too thick, or another pinch of chickpea flour if it is too thin. Season the batter with salt.

3. Heat a layer of about 15 centimetres of rapeseed oil in a deep, heavy-based saucepan or wok until a drop of batter immediately starts to sizzle in the oil. Dip the prawns in the batter, lower each prawn slowly into the hot oil and fry for about 3 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. Do this in batches if necessary.

If you want to cook ahead (see introduction), let the deep-fried prawns drain on a rack over an aluminium foil-lined dish and place them in the warm oven (they will remain deliciously crisp for 30 minutes).

Title: The Curry Guy
Author: Dan Toombs
Publisher: Good Cook
Price: €19.95