Satay king prawns

satay_kingprawns2.jpg

Serves 4

Preparation time: 20 minutes plus marinating time 
Cooking time:
10 minutes

Ingredients 
16 raw tiger prawns (4 per person)

For the marinade
1 tbsp fresh lemongrass roughly chopped (or a paste)
3 cloves garlic 
½ tsp galangal (fresh or a paste) 
1 tbsp fresh parsley  
1 tsp ground coriander 
1 tsp ground cumin 
¼ tsp turmeric  
½ tsp ground white pepper 
1 fresh red chilli 
2 tbsp fish sauce 
1 ½ tsp brown sugar 
1 tsp rice vinegar  
1 tbsp runny honey 
1 tbsp vegetable oil 

For the Satay Sauce
120g crunchy peanut butter 
80ml low sodium soy sauce 
1 tbsp sesame oil 
1 ½ tbsp rice vinegar 
1 tbsp sriracha 
1 tbsp palm sugar or soft brown sugar 
a small knob of fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped* (or a paste)  
2 cloves of fresh garlic, peeled and roughly chopped* (or a paste) 

Equipment needed
16 skewers, soaked if wooden

 * I used frozen ready chopped which has no other ingredients such as oil or vinegar and use a tbsp of each.

Method  
If your skewers are wooden, soak them. 

Blend all the sauce ingredients together in a small processor and blitz until smooth and put into a bowl or container, cover and put to one side. 

Place all the marinade ingredients in a small  processor and blitz until the ingredients blend into a paste.  Pour into a food bag and seal. 

Prepare the prawns.  Remove the shells, the easiest way to do this is to start at the top and remove the shell section by section ending with the tail.  Take a sharp knife and run down the back of the prawn revealing the vein, you should now be able to see the dark grey vein and should be able to easily pull this out. 

Place the prawns into the marinade paste, and ensure every prawn is covered in marinade.  Leave for half an hour to overnight - whatever works for you. 

When you are ready to eat, skewer the prawns and place either on to a hot Braai or BBQ or under a pre-heated grill.  Baste with leftover marinade as they cook and when you turn. Cook until the prawn turns pink on the outside and opaque on the inside and until has charred edges. 

Meanwhile, reheat the sauce.  When the prawns are cooked, place onto a plate and pour over the satay sauce.