Kaffir lime, a truly amazing citurs fruit. Native to South-Asian, they have dark green knobbly skins, quite unlike those of their cousins, the smooth-skinned limes or lemons. The fruit is not edible. The rind is sometimes used in cooking, but it is the leaves that are most highly prized.
Very rare to find them in normal supermartkets in the UK. I am lucky enough to have one growing in my garden. So I can use the leaves for cooking. You can get fresh/frozen lime leaves from most Asian stores.
Sweet Chili Lime Prawns
Serve 4
Ingredients
250g raw king prawns
1 tsp finely chopped ginger
1 tsp finely chopped garlic
1 small green/red chili (optional)
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 cup mushroom of your choice, thinly sliced (optional, or use other veggie of your choice)
Half lime juice
1 fresh/frozen lime leaf, thinly sliced (you can use the zest from a lime instead)
1/2 cup Thai sweet chili sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
2-3 tbsp water
1 tbsp Oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Sesame seeds, spring onion and lime ring for garnish (optional)
Method
- Remove the vein from the prawns. (please see below note for how to remove vein from prawn)
- Heat oil in a frying pan. Add prawns to the pan. Fry for 2 minutes until they start to turn pink. Remove them from the pan.
- Stir in the ginger, garlic, chili and onion. After a couple of minutes, add the mushroom. Cook until soften. Then pour in the sweet chili sauce, fish sauce, water, lime juice and lime leaf or lime zest. Stir well.
- Turn up the heat until boil, then reduce the heat to medium. Add the prawns back to pan. Simmer for a minute. Don't over cook the prawns!
- Garnish with sesame seeds, spring onion and lime ring. Enjoy!
* How to remove vein from prawn.
- Use a small knife to create a slit down the back of the prawn. You're looking for the long black vein that runs through the entire prawn. It is easiest to see near the tail, where there is a small valley in the prawn.
- Pull the end of the vein up with the tip of the knife then grab it with your fingers to pull it off. This is not strictly necessary, but the vein has a bitter taste that is best removed now.
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