Don’t you just love a juicy taco? Using the mixes from the packets are good for a quick fix but making it from scratch just gives you next-level flavours and textures. Here is the ultimate prawn tacos recipe.
The best way to enjoy this is make all the sauces and pickled onions before hand. Pre-marinate your prawns for extra flavour. This also saves time when it comes to cooking.
This dish is perfect for when you have guest. It is interactive and you can do all the preparation beforehand. When its dinner time you just need to cook the prawns and the tacos.
Picked Onions and Jalapeños
- Mix equal parts of white wine vinegar and water in a pan ( 1 cup each) Add in some Szechwan peppercorns and salt and bring to boil on medium heat.
- Slice 2 red onions and 2-3 jalapeños (Think slices of onions work better)
- Once the vinegar mixture has come to a boil, pour it over the sliced onions.
- Let this cool then store in the fridge
- Shrimps marinate cloves then fry with butter with salt and pepper chipotle seasoning
Guacamole
To go with the rest of the mouth-watering toppings on the tacos, I made an easy Guacamole. Lightly blitz or mash avocado, coriander, lime, salt & pepper. I wanted it slightly chunky.
Salsa
Toss together and place the ingredients below on a baking tray.
- 3 peeled shallots
- 5 garlic cloves (not totally peeled to avoid burning)
- 4 medium-sized tomatoes
- 1 bell pepper (ideally red)
- 1 slightly fiery chilli pepper (or jalapeno)
- a couple of tablespoons of olive oil
- salt
Roast in a preheated oven (200 degrees) for 30 minutes. You want it slightly charred for flavour.
Once baked, take the skin out of the garlic then blitz this with a handful of coriander and juice of one lemon. If you want a more tomato flavour you can add in a spoonful of tomato puree. That will also give your salsa a deeper red colour. I use my mini kitchen aid chopper which does not make it into a fine paste.
Chipotle Crema
In a bowl mix together
- 1/4 cup mayo
- 1 cup sour cream
- 4 tbsps Chipotle Sauce. I used the Tabasco one.
- Juice of 1/2 lime
- 1 crushed clove garlic
- salt to taste
Prawns
Marinate around 400 grams of raw prawns with crushed garlic, smoked paprika and seasoning for at least 30 minutes. In a pan, melt some butter then fry these prawns (Be generous with the butter). Take the prawns out of the pan and set them aside once cooked.
Soft Tacos
In the same pan with the butter, lightly fry the tacos to warm them and add more flavour to them.
Assemble
Get your taco, spread the chipotle crema, dollop the salsa and guacamole, put some prawns on and finish off with the pickled onions as well as some chopped coriander. You can add on cheese and green chillies too.
The beauty about the three sauces is if you have some leftovers they are versatile so you can use them the next day. With the salsa you can cook it more and add it to plain sea bass. The chipotle cream tastes so good with wedges. As for the guacamole and pickled onions, you can just put that on a slice of toast with a poached egg for the perfect tasty breakfast.
Love prawns? Try out these shell on Masala Prawns. They are finger licking good.
