by Stephen Poulitsis

Created on: May 27, 2010   Last Updated: November 21, 2010

The prawns in Mozambique were well worth the 3000 mile drive from South Africa when a barbecue was planned. Large bright red prawns famed for their quality are flash frozen at sea by the local fishermen. Packed in extra blocks of ice well wrapped in newspapers for the long journey back, they were worth every mile behind the wheel.

The sheer pleasure of prawns prepared in the Mozambique dish of peri peri was amazing, and when we announced we were off on a prawn run everyone knew the intended destination.

Peri peri is a hot (very hot) spicy sauce made from fresh African bird’s eye chillies. The sauce would be prepared in advance of the drive so it would be ready to marinade the prawns in overnight on return. This is the recipe for the prawn peri peri sauce which needs to be made and left in the fridge for a day or two, before the prawns go into it. Just mix the ingredients in a bowl and then leave in the fridge.

10 roughly chopped chillies

The juice of 4 lemons.

Crushed garlic cloves – to your taste

1 teaspoon of salt

1 cup of olive oil.

The night before you plan the braai (barbecue) defrost the prawns and prepare them. They only need de-veining, so make a slit in the back of the shell and remove the black track of vein. Keep the shell, head and tails on the prawn, and then put them into the peri peri sauce to marinade overnight.

When the braai is fired up remove the prawns from the sauce and arrange them on skewers to go right onto the braai. They need cooking for no longer than 2 minutes each side to prevent the prawn from going tough inside the shell. Use any remaining peri peri sauce as a dipping sauce.

The result is messy, red hot and good enough to consider the drive back to Mozambique to get another frozen block of prawns. Of course if you aren’t in the area any good quality large prawns will suffice.

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