These babies are lip-smacking, finger-licking good!
With the big three-oh looming next week I decided it’s time for a change… hopefully for the better. Somehow everywhere I look there’s clutter in the house. Is this what happens when you have children? They turn everything upside down, you get no free time and eventually things start slipping.
Recently, while still reading the book I started my own little Happiness Project. Every day I set myself small, achievable targets. It feels so good to tick them off every day and at the end of each week there is one big, fat reward for me, e.g. a massage. Cleaning up the house is a mammoth of a task but after years of experimenting I’ve come to the conclusion that doing little things often helps. Week 1 has been successfully completed, now I’m in Week 2.
While on my decluttering mission, I came across a bagful of dusty chess trophies that my parents lugged all the way from South Africa. Dates ranged from 1991 to 2001. Almost every weekend and all holidays for 10 years I played chess tournaments. Some would say that chess was my hobby in my school going years but that would be a gross understatement. A second vocation would be more accurate. Yet it all feels like a lifetime ago and when I held a trophy in my hand I felt… nothing. Why bother keeping them?
After each victorious tournament my parents celebrated with me. We used to go to restaurants and order a mega-whopper of a grilled seafood platter and drown it all with Buck’s Fizz. Being an only child certainly had its perks.
Whenever I see prawns now, I still associate them with celebration. In the UK they are much more readily available and I daresay cheaper than in South Africa. The glaze makes the whole dish rather special with an Asian twist. One prawn, and you would want to eat the whole lot!
So what happened to the trophies? I was about to bin them when it occurred to me that I can advertise them on Free Cycle. A middle-aged man actually came and picked them up. Bizarre.
Before you think I’ve gone completely mad, I did keep two trophies. They were won when I reached the pinnacle of my chess career and then retired, undefeated. It’s a good feeling and serves as a reminder to me that if I put my mind to it I can achieve whatever I want.
What about you? Would you have chucked the trophies? (You will get brownie points from me if you tell me I was sensible!)
Grilled Apricot & Hoisin Glazed Prawns
- Total Time: 28 minutes
- Yield: 3
Description
These babies are lip-smacking, finger-licking good!
Ingredients
- 1kg (2 lbs) raw shell-on tiger prawns
- 15ml (1 tbsp) sesame seeds
- 30ml (2 tbsp) olive oil
- 15ml (1 tbsp) garlic, crushed
- 2.5cm (1 inch) ginger, grated
- 30ml (2 tbsp) soy sauce
- 125ml (½ cup) hoisin sauce
- 125ml (½ cup) apricot jam
Instructions
- With a sharp knife, score down the back of the shrimp. Remove the thin, digestive tract with the tip of the knife. Repeat with the rest of the prawns. Rinse the prawns under running water and pat dry with paper towels. Place the prawns in a large bowl.
- Heat the seeds in a dry pan over medium heat, until golden and fragrant, for about 5 minutes. Set aside.
- Heat oil in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat and sauté garlic and ginger for 2 minutes. Stir in the apricot jam, soy sauce and hoisin. Bring to a simmer then let it cool.
- Toss the prawns in the cooled sauce and marinate for up to 4 hours.
- Just before serving, preheat the grill. Transfer the prawns to the grill pan and grill as close to the heat as possible for 6-8 minutes, turning and basting frequently with the marinade juices, until the prawns are pink, and slightly charred.
- Transfer the prawns to a warmed serving platter and scatter the toasted sesame seeds over them. Serve warm or cold.
Notes
- We like to eat egg noodles on the side.
- You can cook the prawns on the barbecue if you prefer.
- Don’t forget the finger bowls!
- If you’re wheat and gluten intolerant, use tamari instead of soy sauce.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 8 minutes
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 439
- Calories: 569
- Sugar: 32.6 g
- Sodium: 1224 mg
- Fat: 14.1 g
- Saturated Fat: 2.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 44.7 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 62.5 g
Maddy
I must confess I would have had a good old wallow in the nostalgia my chess trophies evoked, then put them back – but then, my house is rather cluttered! (This is on my “To Do!” list …. 😉 )
Mandy - The Complete Cook Book
I love purging and paying things forward so I definitely agree with you giving all but 2 of your trophy’s away!
Your glazed grilled prawns look and sound heavenly.
🙂 Mandy
Michelle
Thanks, Mandy! Ah yes, decluttering sure is invigorating, isn’t it? Plus, if someone actually got use out of them, then why not? 10 Greedy Gourmet brownie points for you!
Marisa
That glaze sounds super! I have a feeling it’d be great on chicken or pork kebabs too.
Michelle
Right you are indeed, Marisa.
Lisa Krog
Yum – will try this on the weekend! Prawns peeled and deveined here, when on special, are around R60-R70 per kg, much more when still in the shell (because much more flovour!) They don’t look as nice as in your picture – I am sure SA is still exporting the cream of the crop! Well done on the declutter – you don’t need all of those things dust gathering. Have a look at a friend of mines website – lots of organisation tips in there to help with sorting out the kids and the ‘stuff’ – http://www.neatfreak-sa.com – planning charts etc. to download.
Can you do something on artichokes – we had them fresh for the first time last night – what a production – and then not a lot for a lot of effort – what on earth did we do wrong. On the upside, cooked duck breasts with a honey and balsamic sauce – WOW!!
Michelle
Please do let me know how it turned out, Lisa!
You’re right about shell-on having more flavour. Ready-peeled, depending on where you buy it, sometimes tastes to me like cardboard. If you use the latter, you can always skewer them and cook them on the barbecue.
Neat Freak is a cool site, lots of handy tips…*sigh*…so much to do!
10 Greedy Gourmet brownie points to you too!
Jerusalem or globe artichokes? I take it as the latter. Unfortunately, it’s not readily available in the UK and if I do come across one or two they cost an arm and a leg and worst of all they’re in bad shape! So unfortunately, my knowledge and experience with them is lacking. Sorry! 🙁 Maybe the internet would help? There should be plenty of videos on YouTube…
Michelle
Maddy: One thing I forgot to mention was that I actually took a photo of each trophy I gave away so that I can at least remember what they all looked like. 😉
working london mummy
these look really delicious. I love the blog just really enjoying looking through it. It is great that you present nutritional info as well as delicious food. (Could I ask if you have some software to calculate that?) Anyhow it is Superb!
michelle
Thanks! Used CalorieCount.
★★★★★