Quick-Cooked Prawns with Three Chillies

This fragrant and fiery recipe is perfect for the summer—fast on prep time and a breeze to cook—so you don’t have to hover around a hot stove for long. It’s also a supremely noshable dish, so the biggest challenge is to prevent Tastey Boy from swiping half the platter before it even reaches the dining table!

Ingredients 

3 tbsp Vegetable Oil
4–6 whole Dried Red Chillies
1 tsp Black Mustard seeds
4–6 fresh Green Chillies, cut into half lengthwise
2 Shallots, sliced
2-inch piece Ginger, peeled and cut into thin slivers
4 cloves Garlic, thinly sliced
2 lbs [1 kg] Prawns, peeled, de-veined, and washed
1 tbsp ground Coriander
½ tbsp ground Cumin
1 tsp Chilli powder
¼ tsp freshly ground Black Pepper
Salt (to taste)
1 tbsp Fish Sauce or Soy Sauce
Juice of ½ lemon

1. Heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a large skillet or frying pan over high heat. When the oil is smoking, add dried red chillies and sauté briskly for 1 min until they are blackened. Set aside chillies in a small bowl, crush half of them roughly into small pieces and leave the others whole. 
2. Add remaining oil to pan and heat until it is smoking. Add black mustard seeds and sputter for a few seconds until they start to pop. Add green chillies, shallots, ginger and garlic, and cook for 2–3 mins, until lightly golden. 
3. Add prawns, coriander, cumin, chilli powder, dried red chilli, black pepper, salt and fish sauce, and stir so the prawns are well coated with the spices. Continue stirring briskly for 4–5 mins, until the prawns are pink and cooked through. Remove from heat, sprinkle with lemon juice, and serve immediately.