Spicy-Salty Tiger Prawns

You may have noticed that there aren't many shellfish recipes on this blog. Fish recipes, yes, but not recipes involving mussels, shrimps/prawns, scallops etc. There's a good reason for that, but it doesn't mean I don't cook them at home. Contrarily to me, K. adores shellfish, so every now and then I try a new recipe. This recipe is an adaptation of Jamie Oliver's, who uses small prawns and eats them with shell and all. I much prefer cooking with large tiger prawns - they look more decent to me. K. wholeheartedly approved, and considering it took about 5 minutes in total, then it's a good recipe indeed :)

Spicy-Salty Tiger Prawns
(Soolased krevetid vürtsidega)
Serves 3 to 4

400 g unpeeled fresh tiger prawns (headless, thoroughly defrosted and drained, if frozen)
2 generous pinches of sea salt flakes
a generous pinch of fennel seeds
a generous pinch of coriander seeds
a generous pinch of cumin seeds
a small pinch of dried chilli flakes

Place fennel, coriander and cumin seeds into a pestle and mortar and bash them couple of times (just enough to crush them, no more).
Heat a large wok or frying pan until very hot, add sea salt flakes, crushed spices and chilli flakes and heat for about half a minute, until they're all aromatic.
Add the tiger prawns and shake the pan, so the spice mixture would cover the prawns nicely. Dry-fry for 2-4 minutes, depending on the size of your prawns, until they've all turned pink with golden brown, indicating that they're cooked.
Peel the prawns while eating them.

Mustard bread for mustard lovers

You're probably wondering why the bread on the photo looks so yellow. No, it's not me and K. mishandling the white balance on our camera. It's just that this bread is so exceptionally yellow in colour (mustard powder + ground turmeric), as well as mustardy in flavour (whole-grain mustard + mustard powder + mustard seeds). Definitely (or perhaps?) too mustardy to be your daily bread, but it would make a lovely loaf to accompany a simple vegetable soup, and perhaps even a cheeseboard.

The recipe is adapted from an Estonian supermarket food magazine Toit & Trend.

Mustard Bread
(Sinepisai)
Makes 1 loaf



250 ml (1 cup) lukewarm water
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 Tbsp whole-grain mustard
400 g plain/all-purpose flour
1 packet active dry yeast (app. 11 g)
3 tsp mustard powder (I used Coleman's English)
0.5 tsp ground turmeric
0.5 tsp salt
1 egg, whisked, for brushing
2 Tbsp brown mustard seeds, for topping

Mix the water, oil and whole-grain mustard in a large bowl.
Mix the flour, dry yeast, mustard powder, turmeric and salt in another bowl, then stir into the water mixture and knead, until the dough breaks loose from your hands (or dough hook, if using a mixer).
Cover the bowl with a clingfilm or a clean kitchen towel and leave to prove for an hour in a warm, draft-free place. It should pretty much double in size.
Knead the dough once again, then form into a round loaf. Transfer the loaf into an oiled oven sheet, cover again with a piece of clingfilm or a kitchen towel and leave to prove for another hour.
Cut few slashes on top with a sharp knife, then brush with egg and sprinkle with mustard seeds.
Bake in the middle of 200 C /400 F oven for about 30 minutes, until the bread is lovely golden and crispy on top.
Let it cool for about half an hour after taking out of the oven, then slice as thinly or thickly as you like.

Other bread recipes @ Nami-Nami:
Estonian Soda Bread with Ricotta Cheese
Tender Potato Bread (a Daring Baker challenge)
Fennel Seed Bread
Georgian Cheese Bread Hatchapuri

Fancy an After Dinner Mint Mousse?

Here's a clever way to combine the dessert and the after dinner mints served with coffee. The recipe is inspired by a British one using unwhipped double cream (fat content 48%, but not available in Estonia), so I've played around with quantities and serving sizes a bit. It's very-very minty and rather chocolatey - not perhaps everybody's cup of tea. But if you do fancy an after dinner mint, then you'll love it..

I used After Eight Dinner Mints, just because it's a classic, but you could try with some of the other mints instead..

After Dinner Mint Mousse
(After Eight šokolaadivaht)
Serves 6

200 g box of After Eight chocolate mints
2 Tbsp cognac or brandy (I used Georgian Gremi brandy)
300 ml whipping cream (35%)
1 Tbsp caster sugar
0.5 tsp vanilla extract (I used Pure Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla)
fresh mint, for garnish

Put six chocolate mints aside for decorating later.

Place the rest if the chocolate mints and cognac/brandy into a small heavy-bottomed saucepan and heat on a low heat, stirring every now and then, until chocolate has melted. Remove from the heat and cool a little.
Whip the whipping cream and sugar until soft peaks form, then fold in vanilla extract.
Stir one-third of the whipped cream into the cool melted chocolate mixture, to soften the latter. Then gently fold in the melted chocolate into the whipped cream, until combined and fluffy.
Divide into small dessert bowls or glasses.
(If necessary, you can cover the portions with a cling film and put into a fridge for a few hours).
Before serving, garnish with a chocolate mint square and a pretty mint sprig.