Shut the front door. This was divine. The absolute perfect meal for a stinking hot day. It was light, fresh, easy to make, zero cooking required (unless you count soaking noodles in boiling water as cooking) and just downright delicious. The trusty Prawn is one of my favourite seafoods and paired with mango, avocado and a zesty lime and coconut dressing, it was literally Summer on a plate. One of my best! Enough said……..
About how good it was anyway. Prawns are really very reasonable at the moment, I think I paid $11 for half a kilo of really nice, medium sized tiger prawns (my fave). Obviously a fair bit of that weight is in the shells but that gave my husband and I a dozen prawns each (except for the sneaky one I had as a reward for peeling) and that is quite a bit (I totally suck at portion control). You could easily feed 3-4 people on that and you will find they go a lot further if you chopped them up. Or else, if you were concerned about the cost, give the kids some toast.
Prep time: 30 Minutes Cooking time: 10 Minutes $$ Medium Budget
Serves 4
Peeled fresh cooked prawns, I will leave the quantity up to you
1 mango, cheeks cut off, skin removed and sliced thinly
250gm of rice stick noodles (I use Chang’s Pad Thai brand)
150gm of snow peas, top removed and sliced diagonally
1 lebanese cucumber, halved lengthways, deseeded and sliced diagonally
Two handfuls of bean sprouts
1 ripe but firm Avocado, halved skin removed and sliced thinly
1 cup of coriander leaves
1/2 a cup of mint leaves
1/2 a red onion, sliced very finely, top to bottom
1 red chilli, finely sliced diagonally (seeds removed if you prefer)
1/2 cup of toasted granulated peanuts
Lime wedges to serve
For the Dressing
1 cup of coconut milk
1 tbs of rice wine vinegar
2 tbs of fish sauce
1 heaped tbs of brown sugar
Juice of 1 lime
Place the noodles in a large, heat proof bowl and pour over boiling water. Allow to soak for 10 – 12 minutes or until tender before draining and rinsing well under cold water.
To make the dressing, whisk all of the ingredients together until the sugar has dissolved. Have a taste and adjust if necessary, you should have the perfect balance of sweet, salty and sour.
Place the snow peas in a small bowl and cover with boiling water for two minutes until bright green. Drain and run under cold water to stop the cooking process.
Place the noodles and snow peas back in the large bowl along with the bean shoots, cucumber and mango slices. Pour over half of the dressing and toss gently to combine. Divide the noodle mixture between four serving bowls and place the prawns on top in a lovely pile.
Toss the coriander, mint and red onion together with your fingers and pile on top of the prawns. Fan the avocado out gently with your fingers and place it to the side of the bowl.
Drizzle over the remaining dressing and top with a smattering of peanuts and the chilli slices. Serve with lime wedges and enjoy with a lovely glass of Pinot Gris.
Leftover bean sprouts? You might like to cook this…..