Gourmet RecipesGrilled Tiger Prawns With Cucumber Salad

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 12 medium-sized tiger prawns
• Large cucumber
• 120g peeled pistachios
• 150g plain Greek-style yoghurt
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Peel the tiger prawns, leaving the tip of the tail intact. Using a sharp knife, cut down the back to remove the intestine.
2. Peel the cucumber, cut it in half lengthways and remove the seeds. Cut in half again to give four pieces, about 14cm long.
3. Using a Japanese vegetable slicer, cut the cucumber into fine, long julienne strips, season with salt and place in a colander to drain.
4. After about 30 minutes the salt will have leeched the water out of the cucumber.
5. Lightly squeeze the cucumber strips, place them in a bowl and fold in half the yoghurt. Finally, season with a generous amount of pepper.
6. Put the rest of the yoghurt in a blender with half the pistachios. Season with salt and pepper, then blitz to a fine puree – you can also do this with a pestle and mortar. Finely chop the rest of the pistachios.
7. Smear a little olive oil on a very hot non-stick pan. Place the prawns in the pan and cook over high heat for two minutes on each side. Season with salt and pepper.
8. Using a kitchen fork, make twirls of cucumber, as you would pasta, and place one in the centre of each plate. Arrange three tiger prawns around the cucumber, drizzle on some yoghurt sauce and sprinkle with chopped pistachios.