Spiced prawn and coconut pilaf

I was fortunate enough to have all the ingredients for this meal I found on the BBC Goodfood website last night. It saved me an unwanted shopping trip. A bag of raw prawns in the freezer and a well stocked spice cupboard is a really good standby. Even better Steve cooked last night, he is a little slow on the chopping front, but I can handle that if he is happy to do the cooking.  A very flavoursome, reasonably easy to make meal. 

Ingredients
Serves 4
250g basmati rice, washed well
small piece fresh root ginger, roughly chopped
2 large garlic cloves
2 medium tomatoes, quartered
4 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
5 black peppercorns
½ cinnamon stick
3 cloves
3 cardamom pods
1 medium onion, finely sliced
½ tsp turmeric
¼ tsp chilli powder
1 tsp ground coriander300g raw prawns, peeled
handful flaked unsweetened coconut, to serve

Method
Cook the rice according to pack instructions, then set aside. Put the ginger, garlic and tomatoes into a food processor, blend to make a paste, then set aside until you’re ready to cook.
Heat the oil in a large non-stick pan and add the whole spices. Once they sizzle, add the onion, frying over a medium heat for about 10 mins until soft. Add the ground spices and paste, then cook over a low heat, stirring occasionally until the sauce has released the oil back into the pan. Add the prawns, then cook for a few mins until cooked through – the mixture should be quite dry and paste-like.
Stir the cooked rice into the pan to coat it well in the spices. Make sure the rice is heated through, then serve scattered with the coconut.

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