Feeling Special - Seafood for Dinner

When it comes to seafood I am definitely in the 'love it' camp. Lightly crumbed scallops make a great finger food or snack if you feel like cooking something a bit special. I usually cook prawn tails at the same time and serve with a simple mayonnaise based dipping sauce.

I keep a bag of frozen green prawns tails in the freezer as they are a great standby ingredient, easily defrosted and cooked quickly. I purchase fresh fish and my seafood frozen from a  good seafood supplier. The seafood supplier that I purchase from only sells 'dry' scallops which means that they have not been plumped in water and consequently shrink very little during cooking. Small chunks of fish could also be used. The spicy coating mixture is suitable for a gluten free diet.

The technique that I use is a a variation on the traditional flour, egg and breadcrumbs.  I use panko crumbs. These are a Japanese crumb and stocked in supermarkets, Asian food stores and at my local fruit and veg shop. I do not bother with the flour and egg wash and just press the crumbs directly onto the scallop or prawn. Return them to the fridge to allow the crumbs to stick firmly. I then fry them with very little oil in a teflon pan. For the prawns I use rice flour instead of the crumbs and add salt, white pepper, garlic powder and chilli powder. Do not overcook seafood, a few minutes is all it needs.

Simple dipping Sauce for Seafood

3 Tablespoons good quality mayonnaise. I use Thomy brand
2 cloves garlic crushed
2 teaspoons finely chopped red chilli
zest and juice of half a lemon

Mix all ingredients together and put in serving bowl

How to Cook the Scallops
Press Panko crumbs onto scallops. Return to fridge.

Fry in teflon pan using very little oil until cooked. A couple of minutes will be enough. Do not overcook. The crumbs should be a golden brown colour. Remove from heat, drain on kitchen paper. Handle gently

Serve with dipping sauce.

How to Cook the Spicy Prawns

Coating Mixture
1/2 cup rice flour or ground rice
1 teaspoon salt
1 - 2 teaspoons pepper, for this dish I use white but any pepper is good
1/2 - 1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder

spice coating for prawns, ready to be mixed

Mix the coating mixture thoroughly, add prawns and make sure they are all coated. This can also be done in a plastic bag, simply put everything in and shake.

Fry in teflon pan using very little oil until cooked. A couple of minutes will be enough. Do not overcook. The coating should be a golden brown colour and the prawns turning pink. Remove from heat, drain on kitchen paper.

Serve with dipping sauce. These are also very good in an Asian style salad such as the Vietnamese Inspired Noodle Salad shown in a previous post.