Another recipe from the Palestinian cookbook ” Falastin” by Sami Tamimi and Tara Wigley. Serve with crusty white bread to mop up the juices, or dot with feta cubes or olives. A green salad on the side is good too.
Ingredients
- 250 g cherry tomatoes
- 60 ml olive oil
- 180 g onion finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves crushed
- 2 cm ginger peeled and finely grated (15g)
- 1 green chilli finely chopped
- 2 tsp coriander seeds 2 tsp lightly crushed in a pestle and mortar
- 1½ tsp cumin seeds lightly crushed in a pestle and mortar
- 8 cardamom pods lightly bashed in a pestle and mortar
- 20 g dill finely chopped
- 2 tsp tomato puree
- 500 g plum tomatoes roughly chopped
- salt and black pepper
- 600 g raw king prawns peeled
- For the coriander pesto
- 30 g coriander roughly chopped
- 1 green chilli finely chopped
- 50 g pine nuts lightly toasted
- 1 lemon finely grate the zest to get 1½ tsp, then cut into wedges, to serve
- 80 ml olive oil
- 80 ml olive oil
Servings:
Instructions
- Place a large sauté pan on a high heat. Toss the cherry tomatoes with 1 teaspoon of oil and, once the pan is very hot, add the tomatoes. Cook for about 5 minutes, shaking the pan once or twice, until blistered and heavily charred on all sides.
- Remove the tomatoes from the pan and set them aside. Wipe the pan clean, add 2 tablespoons of oil and replace it on the stove on a medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned.
- Add the garlic, ginger, chilli, spices, dill and tomato puree and cook for another 2 minutes, until fragrant. Add the plum tomatoes, 300ml of water, 1½ teaspoons of salt and a good grind of black pepper.
- Bring to a simmer, then lower the heat to medium and cook for about 25 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened and the tomatoes have completely broken down.
- While the sauce is cooking, make the coriander pesto. Put the coriander, chilli and pine nuts into a food processor and pulse a few times until the pine nuts are roughly crumbled.
- Transfer to a bowl and add the lemon zest, oil, ¼ teaspoon of salt and a grind of black pepper. Mix to combine, then set aside.
- Pat the prawns dry and mix them in a bowl with ¼ teaspoon of salt, 1 tablespoon of oil and a good grind of black pepper.
- Put 2 teaspoons of oil into a large frying pan and place on a high heat. Once hot, add the prawns in batches and fry for a minute on each side, until cooked through and nicely browned. Set each batch aside while you continue with the remaining prawns.
- When the sauce is ready, stir in the prawns and charred tomatoes and cook on a medium heat for about another 3 minutes, to heat through. Serve either straight from the pan or spoon into wide shallow bowls.
- Scoop out the cardamom pods before serving, if you like: they are there to flavour the dish rather than to be eaten. Dot with about half of the pesto and serve at once, with the lemon and remaining pesto in a bowl alongside.
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