Prawns in Saffron and Vodka Sauce

Prawns are one of my favourite food- to cook as well as eat. It is hassle free and can be prepared quickly. I have been planning to prepare prawns with a light saffron sauce for quite sometime. But the idea of using the prawn shells to flavour the sauce was stolen from one of Jamie Oliver's recipe. He uses this in his Linguine Pasta. It really adds a definitive flavour to the whole dish. I have used fennel seeds to add some additional flavour to the sauce.

And while I have used vodka, dry white wine would go better with the sauce. But the quarantine and lockdown means I am left with no wine in my pantry and neither have the option of going out to buy the same. 

Try this once, and feel free to adjust the strength of the flavours as per your taste.

For the sauce:

8 prawns deveined and cleaned, keep the shells and head separately

1 small onion

1 small tomato

1 green/red chili

1 tsp fennel seeds

1 tsp pepper corns

3+2 pods of garlic, crushed

A few strands of saffron 

A splash of vodka

Handful of cherry tomatoes, optional

Salt to taste

Oil

Method:

In a wok heat about 1 tbsp oil, add 3 pods of crushed garlic. In about a minute or two add the fennel and peppercorns and then the onions. Fry till the onions become translucent.

Add the tomatoes and the discarded prawn shells and head.

 Fry till it's done and starts sticking to the pan. Now pour about 1/4 cup water and bring it to a boil and turn off the heat. 

In a blender, blend this to a paste. 

Take a sieve and pour the paste into the sieve. This step is important, else your sauce will have a sandy feel. Use only the sauce that has seeped into the bottom, you might want to run a little water at the top of the sieve if the consistency is very thick.

Sprinkle a little salt on the prawns and fry in a pan till pink on both sides. It takes approximately 2 minutes on each side. Take care to not overdo else the prawns become rubbery. 

Now take out the prawns and in the same oil fry the cherry tomatoes for a minute or two. Remove and keep.

Bloom the saffron in a bit of hot water. Set aside.

If required add a spoon of oil to the pan and then add two crushed garlic. Once it's nicely browned and the aroma of the garlic wafts pour the sieved sauce. Add the saffron water and a splash of vokda. (Use white wine if you have.) Put the prawns and cherry tomatoes and bring it to a boil. Switch off the gas. 

You can garnish with fresh greens. 

Have this with a salad or a bit of steamed rice.