Prawns and Portuguese rice. (Photo: TGIFood contributor) New Year’s prawns and Portuguese rice
This recipe was submitted by an anonymous reader.
I cook this dish every year on New Year’s Eve as a prelude to the festivities. It’s a decadent holiday meal without being pretentious. Any leftovers are great the next day to soak up the after-effects of the previous night’s party.
Ingredients (to comfortably serve 6)
Prawns
4kg large prawns (ask your fishmonger to clean them)
2-3 beers
1/2 cup olive oil
6 cloves garlic (chopped)
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 handfuls of parsley (chopped)
Portuguese rice
1 chorizo sausage (sliced)
2 large onions (chopped)
2 cloves garlic (chopped)
2-3 cups rice (based on the size of the pan)
2 tins chopped tomatoes
2 glasses white wine
1 litre chicken stock (but you can use water if needs be)
Method
Prawns
Lay the prawns out in a large oven dish. It’s fine if you need to make them 2 or 3 layers deep.
Mix the beer, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and chopped parsley in a large jug. Pour the mixture over the prawns.
Leave in the fridge for 2-3 hours to marinate.
Use a paella pan or skottel to fry the prawns in batches until they are pink and the tails begin to curl (but not too much).
Keep the prawns warm in the oven set at 60 degrees.
Portuguese rice
In the same pan, fry the chorizo for 5 minutes, and then add the onions and garlic. Cook until the onions are translucent.
Add the tomatoes and stir in.
Add the rice to the mixture and stir in, cooking for about 4 minutes (you want to try to get the shell of the rice kernels to crack).
Add the white wine and cook off for 3-4 minutes.
Pour in chicken stock until it just covers the rice.
Allow to cook, stirring frequently.
As the liquid is absorbed by the rice or evaporates, add more stock. If this is finished, you can add more water or even the marinade from the prawns.
Season the rice after all the stock is cooked off (since the stock may be salty, avoid seasoning the rice before that, because you may over-season it).
Taste the rice frequently to check if it is cooked.
Lekker biltong soup
This recipe was submitted by an anonymous reader.
Ingredients
125ml butter
1 beef stock cube
5ml black pepper
2ml nutmeg
2ml coriander
250ml cake flour
500ml milk
1.5 litres of boiling water
200g finely chopped, moist biltong (you can also use fine biltong)
100g grated blue cheese
Cream (or milk) and Port (optional, to taste)
Method
Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan.
Crumble the stock cube and add the spices.
Add the flour and heat. Stir constantly.
Mix the milk and boiling water and slowly stir into the flour mixture.
Heat over medium heat until it starts to simmer and thicken. Stir constantly.
Remove from heat and stir in the cheese and biltong. Do not bring to a boil again.
Keep warm until serving. Stir in the cream (or milk) and port just before serving. DM