In China I tasted this dish with chicken, but in the restaurant I found that seafood worked just as well. I was unable to get fresh green Sichuan peppercorns in Australia, so I added green onion and chilli instead.
Neil Perry: Tingling prawns
Australian Gourmet Traveller recipe for tingling prawns by Neil Perry and Andy Evans from Sydney restaurant Spice Temple.
- Serves 4
- 10 mins preparation
- 12 mins cooking plus cooling
Ingredients
- 80 ml (1/3 cup) peanut oil
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced diagonally, green tops reserved
- 1½ tbsp Sichuan peppercorns
- 2 long green chillies
- 7 gm (1½cm) ginger, cut into julienne
- ¼ cup (loosely packed) coriander, coarsely chopped
- 1½ tsp white sugar
- 2 tsp rice wine vinegar
- 16 cooked king prawns, peeled and halved lengthways
Method
Main
- 1Combine oil and reserved green onion tops in a small saucepan and cook over low heat for 10 minutes to infuse. Cool to room temperature, then strain (discard solids).
- 2Dry-roast Sichuan peppercorns in a small frying pan until fragrant (1-2 minutes), grind in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle until fine and set aside.
- 3Finely chop 1 chilli and pound with Sichuan pepper, ginger, coriander, sugar and 1 tsp sea salt in a mortar and pestle to a fine paste. Add vinegar and 60ml green onion oil, mix to combine and set aside.
- 4Thinly slice remaining chilli diagonally and combine in a bowl with prawns and sliced green onions. Drizzle with dressing, toss well to coat, arrange on a serving plate and serve immediately.
