Let's Do Prawns

One afternoon I was at S&R replenishing my stock of vegetables and fruits when I happened to pass by the seafood section.  I spotted some prawns, stared at it for a while and told myself it was time I tried cooking something other than chicken and beef.  Remembering reading in some blog that a regular serving of prawns was about 8 pcs. per meal, I picked 16 pcs.for me and J.

When I finally got home, I put all my fruits and veggies away and excitedly opened my bag of prawns.  Note that in Cohen, only food that will be eaten is weighed.  What this means is that if you are having tomatoes, you weigh your tomato allowance without the seeds.  If you're having fish, you get it filleted because you won't be eating fish bones.  Ergo, with my prawns, I had to remove its shell before weighing my allowance.  So I picked up a prawn and then... yikes!!!

  ****panic, panic***  Suddenly all these thoughts came rushing --- What if the prawns come alive?!  Do I just twist its head?  Mayday, mayday, I can't leave these prawns lying out too long, it might spoil!  Help, help I have to cook dinner!!!  Here I was panicking and then I remembered...

I have a brother who's a chef!!!  So I dialed a chef.  "Hello, Popit, are you home?  Can you come over?  I have a problem with my prawns."  Good thing Chef Popit lives next door.  He comes over, gives me a "duh-look" and effortlessly picks a prawn, twists the head, flicks the shell off, bends the prawn and with a toothpick deveins.  Wow! 

Well, since then, I have practiced "prawning" and here's a Prawn Spaghetti recipe I recently cooked (I should mention that J had to refine my technique for this dish because I was not following a recipe --- level-up na ako!):

Prawns
Garlic
Onion
Tomatoes
Basil, oregano, chili flakes
Salt & pepper
Enochi mushrooms

Spray pan with olive oil.  Brown garlic and cook onions.  Remove cooked garlic and onions and toss into Osterizer.  Add tomatoes into the Osterizer with a little water and puree.  Fry the prawns until they turn orange then pour in tomato mixture into the pan. Let simmer.

Meanwhile, boil some water.  Once boiling, dunk the Enochi mushrooms and blanch until  the mushrooms are soft.  Drain the mushrooms and put into a bowl.  Pour the prawn-tomato sauce on the mushrooms.  Eat!

Many thanks to J and Popit for helping me discover prawns!