King Prawns & Pak Choi with Honey, Lime & Soy

Original Recipe:

"Honey, lime & soy king prawns with pak choi" from BBC Goodfood Quick Suppers (Autumn 2011)

Original Ingredients (serves 4):

• 16 large raw king prawns, peeled and deveined
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2 tbsp blossom honey
• zest and juice from 1 lime
• 100g or 2 baby pak choi, sliced
• 2 tsp olive oil

My Ingredients (serve 1):

• 190g small raw king prawns
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2 tbsp manuka honey
• zest and juice from 1 small lime
• 1 large pak choi, about 230g
• 2 tsp corn oil
• a pinch of salt
• water

My Method:

1. Rinse the prawns and pat with a pinch of salt. Put into fridge for about 15 minutes.
2. Take out the prawns from fridge and pat dry on kitchen paper.
3. Pour dark soy sauce, honey, lime zest and juice into a non-stick pan. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer over a low heat until reduced by half and syrupy (it took me 3 minutes). Remove from heat & set aside.
4. Wipe the pan with a kitchen paper. Heat over a high heat for 1 min. Add the corn oil and heat for 30 seconds.
5. Add the prawns and stir-fry over a high heat for 15 seconds.
6. Add the syrupy mixture and stir-fry for a further 15 seconds.
7. Add the pak choi and 1 tbsp of water and cover the pan.
8. Allow to cook for 45 seconds or until the leaves are just wilted (don't overcook the pak choi as its water content will make the sauce too runny). Serve immediately

One-line Verdict:

A real quick supper! Honey, lime & soy go really well and gives an oriental hint!

Verdict:

• The original recipe asks to slice & stir-fry the pak choi. As I don't want pak choi to feel too oily, I borrowed a "half-fry-half-steam" method previously learnt from this dish.
• The original ingredients include 2 baby pak choi which on average weigh 50g each. I cannot find (and actually have never seen) any baby pak choi this small. Usually the baby pak choi sold in supermarket weights about 80-120g each.
• I increased the portion size of the recipe to satiate my craving for pak choi but made the amount of honey lime sauce same as original recipe. I found it quite enough.
• I didn't slice the pak choi (okay, I FORGOT), so the part near the root were a bit undercooked.
• Approximate cost of the main ingredients: £4