Sriracha Prawns over Coconut Rice from 'My Kitchen Year' by Ruth Reichl.

I'm going to be brutally honest with you all. I wanted to make the 'Big New York Cheesecake' from Ruth Reichl's new book 'My Kitchen Year' which has a chocolate wafer base for dinner on Sunday. And since Tris left for sea that night I had no one to tell me what I could and couldn't have for dinner. But then this pesky thing call conscious kicked in, it's like the little devil on my shoulder but I did kind of agree that making a whole cheesecake for one isn't really the healthiest option so instead I went with the more dinner suitable recipe from her book. Sriracha Prawns over Coconut Rice.

The main ingredient is obviously Sriracha chilli sauce. This isn't a staple in our home so I didn't have any on hand and after hunting the supermarket isles for this Sriracha chilli sauce like a mad woman and coming up empty in the international food section I almost gave up hope. There have been a few recipes where I have had grand plans but then can't find an ingredient and have easily been defeated. I thought I'd check the sauce isle to see if for some odd reason it was there and boom! One last bottle was sitting there all on its lonesome. It was mine for the taking.

This recipe is sweet, sour and spicy all at the same time but is mellowed out by the coconut rice which almost acts like sour cream does to a spicy chilli. The prawns release their sweetness while the sauce is fragrant from the garlic and ginger but spicy and sour from the lime and Sriracha chilli sauce. As always, I can't cook rice for one and didn't follow that part of the recipe and I ended up with so much coconut rice I have it coming out of my ears (and freezer) now.

I've made this twice now, the second time I didn't have as many prawns as the recipe asked for so filled it out with some sugar snap pea which worked really well. Also ff your not a fan of seafood or have an allergy you could always substitute to for chicken breast. I think it's a great dinner to change up slightly for what you have in the cupboard/freezer at the time.

Next on the list to make from this Ruth's book is the pork dumplings. I want to make batch and freeze them for later mid-week dinners to put in asian soups or noodle dishes or even just on their own with the dipping sauce. You never know, with them in the freezer, it might even suppress the Friday night takeaway urges?

Now for those sweet-toothed readers who feel cheated and are still stuck on the cheesecake in the first sentence, you will find the recipe over on Bon Appetempt thanks to Amelia and for those Australians who have no clue what the 'Famous Chocolate Wafer' is, you'll find the recipe for them over on Smitten Kitchen, which Deb has created.

Sriracha Prawns over Coconut Rice

recipe from My Kitchen Year by Ruth Reichl (slightly adapted)
serves 3-4

450g prawns, peeled (I used frozen)
1 lime
Sriracha sauce
1 cup basmati rice
1 cup coconut milk
butter
salt
vegetable oil
1 brown onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 knob ginger, grated
450g asparagus, cut into 1 inch pieces

- Start with the prawns. I used frozen thawed prawns for this recipe but if you can get raw prawns from the fish show, even better. Make sure they are peeled then place in a bowl with the lime juice and 3-4 tablespoons of Sriracha sauce and let marinade for abut 15 minutes.

- While the prawns are marinating, get on with the coconut rice. Wash the rice until the water runs clear. Drain and then sauté in a knob of butter. When its glossy add the coconut milk and 3/4 cup water (you can vary the proportions here to have more or less coconut milk, I used a whole can which is 400g and added less water). Add a pinch of salt, on medium heat bring to a boil, cover, then turn the heat down to low and cook for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for a further 10 minutes.

- Heat a frying pan over medium heat with about 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in it. Once it is hot, add the onion, garlic and ginger and cook until the onions are translucent and it smells fragrant (about 5 minutes) add the asparagus and cook for a further couple of minutes. Lastly add the prawns and all their marinade, turn the heat up to high and cook until prawns are cooked through (about 3 minutes - depending on the size of them).

- Serve prawns over the top of the coconut rice with extra Sriracha sauce if you need more of a kick.