Butter Garlic Prawns

 

Prawns are yummy in any way. They are great as main dishes or as starters/entrée/appetizer. They are quick to prepare because the cooking time required for prawns is just 2-3 minutes for the small/medium prawns. Cook any longer and they become rubbery. You really do not need to marinate them for long. They absorb flavors quickly.  The only downside is that they are usually expensive. Select prawns that are not stale. They should be firm on the touch and should smell fresh. If you do not want to go through the hassle of cleaning them, buy them frozen which are already peeled and deveined.

Go to any restaurant serving sea food and you will always find butter garlic prawns on their menu. This is a recipe that lends itself to a lot of variations that are fun to make and super tasty to eat. The basic ingredients are butter, garlic, prawns, lemon juice and seasonings like salt and black pepper. So below is the very basic version of this recipe. I have added a bit of bell peppers to this preparation as you can see in the pictures. But you can avoid them if you do not like them.

 

Ingredients

• 200 gm of peeled and deveined prawns. You can leave the tails on to make the prawns look more sophiscated.
• 1 tbsp of finely chopped garlic cloves. You can add more garlic if you love them.
• 2 tbsp of butter (Amul butter for those in India). If needed add a bit (1 tsp) of olive oil too along with the butter. The olive oil prevents the butter from getting burnt.
• 1 tsp of finely chopped coriander leaves
• 1 tbsp each of yellow, red and green bell peppers cut into 1 cm x 1 cm cubes
• Salt as per taste
• Black pepper powder as per taste
• 1 tsp fresh lemon juice

Method

• Wash and pat dry the prawns using a kitchen towel
• Heat a skillet over medium heat
• Add the butter (and olive oil) and once the butter melts add the garlic
• Sauté the garlic until the raw smell goes away (1-2 min). Make sure that the garlic does not turn brown. So reduce the flame if needed while stirring the garlic often.
• Add the bell peppers and sauté for a min.
• Add the prawns and sauté for about 2-3 min (depending on the size of the prawns) until they turn from translucent to opaque white inside and pinkish on the outside
• Season with salt and black pepper powder. If you have used salted butter (like Amul) then add less salt than usual.
• Add the chopped coriander leaves
• Add the fresh lemon juice

Serve hot on a bed of iceberg lettuce