Can you believe it? January is over! Some people complained that it seemed to last forever, but for me it flew by. And all the better for it, because it’s almost Chinese New Year which means time off of work, time to decompress, time to purge my flat of anything unnecessary, and of course … time to spend cooking!

I’ve been umming and ahhing over these prawns for a few weeks now, trying to find the right mood to make it. I’ve got to be in the mood for prawns. I love seafood, and more often than not, I will choose a seafood dish from a menu. But, making prawns at home that aren’t over-cooked and are full of flavour, that can be tough at times. I have to admit now, that I opted for uncooked frozen prawns for my first attempt at this, simply because they were easier to come by. However, I plan to use fresh prawns when I make this again.

The beauty of Jamie Oliver’s 5 Ingredients Quick & Easy cookbook is that it makes weekday cooking, and meal prep, so bloody easy. Most of the ingredients I seem to have around the house these days, particularly the spices, and condiments (I’ve always got yoghurt and chutney in my fridge). All in all, it means I’m buying less, and therefore saving money.

I also used lemon on my prawns, not the lime suggested in Jamie’s recipe simply because I had a lemon to use, and I didn’t want to waste it.

On a side note, regarding waste, Hong Kong is now in a dire situation. China has blocked all imported waste, which includes Hong Kong – despite it being a special administrative region of China – and therefore means that Hong Kong does not have the ability to recycle any of the items that are put into the recycling bins. There has always been controversy regarding Hong Kong’s recycling programme, given that individuals have seen all of the recycling products from separate bins be put into the same big bag by the recycling collectors. There’s also been bags and bags of plastic bottles seen dumped on hillsides.

The landfills of Hong Kong are almost at maximum capacity, and therefore we, as citizens, need to do everything we can to reduce the amount of waste we produce. There are easy ways to go about this: re-usable coffee cups, re-usable food containers, re-usable water bottles, solid shampoos and toothpastes, bamboo toothbrushes, beeswax food wraps, refusing straws (or using your own metal straw instead), having a re-usable shopping bag on hand, etc.

Something that has been lacking in Hong Kong, with regards to most ingredients that I use (that is to say, not the dried scallops and mushrooms found in local bulk buy stores) is being able to bulk buy with your own containers, things that you might actually use: pasta, oats, dates, figs, nuts, legumes, oil….

This is where Live Zero HK comes in. With a lifestyle shop set up in PMQ, selling all sorts of zero-waste lifestyle produces (many of which I mentioned above in ways to reduce your waste), they have now opened Hong Kong’s first zero waste bulk buy store in Sai Ying Pun.

I went to have a look, and while they are still awaiting a few items to complete their stock, I am extremely impressed. The layout makes it a bit difficult to get to the re-usable items and the shampoos if anyone else happens to be browsing in that area, but otherwise – I’m in love. I’ve already got plans to go back again next week for olive oil. Plus, I get to use my own containers and save the world one step at a time.

Right, so now back to the prawn recipe. The combination of curry powder and mango chutney makes sense, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t mix it up and try different combinations. I wonder what might go well with my tomato chutney? Or starfruit chutney? Or papaya and cashew chutney? (Any suggestions are welcome, truly).

And the best part…. Jamie’s got the recipe on his website, which you can find by clicking here.

Or, you can read below, for my adapted version.

Ingredients

300 g raw prawns
6 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 teaspoons mango & lime chutney
1/2 lemon

1. If the shells are on the prawns, remove the shells and legs but keep the heads on. Remove the vein that runs down the backs (if not removed already).
2. Put a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat.
3. Peel and finely slice the garlic cloves, before adding them to the frying pan with a tablespoon of olive oil.
4. When crisp, scoop out the garlic and set aside, leaving the oil in the pan.
5. Add the curry powder to the oil and mix well, then add the prawns.
6. Fry for 3 to 4 minutes on each side, stirring regularly. Add the mango chutney, and season with salt and pepper. Stir through for another 30 seconds.
7. Serve the prawns over a bed of rice, sprinkle with the crispy garlic. Zest the lemon over the prawns, and squeeze the juice over them too.