Sri Lankan spicy devilled prawns(shrimp).
Devilled prawns, a popular Sri Lankan prawn recipe for all you spicy seafood lovers. With chunky onions, green peppers, tomatoes, and a spicy sauce coating the prawn devil, you can’t help but get your hands messy and enjoy this prawn dish.
- Prep time
- 15 min
- Cook time
- 20 min
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- The ingredients mentioned below use standard measuring cups and spoons.
- 700g prawns cleaned and deveined
- 3 tablespoons of lime juice
- 4 tablespoons of oil
- A sprig of curry leaves(substitute with a bay leaf)
- 2-inch piece Pandan leaf(opt-out if this ingredient is not available to you)
- 2 tablespoons of chopped or minced ginger(2″ ginger piece)
- 5 cloves of garlic chopped or minced(about 2 tablespoons)
- 2 large onions(cut into wedges, 4-5 thick pieces from each onion)
- 250g banana peppers(capsicum, cut into 1-2 inch long pieces, substitute with bell peppers)
- 2 medium-sized tomatoes cut into thick wedges(quartered)
- 2 green chillies split in the middle
- 1/4 cup of tomato sauce(use your favourite chilli sauce, reduce or increase the amount depending on how much sauce you want)
- 1-2 tablespoons of red chilli flakes(reduce as per your need as this is quite a lot of red chilli flakes and can be quite spicy)
- 1 teaspoon of red chilli powder
Instructions
- 1
Please refer to the notes above on prawns before you continue.
- 2
Have all the ingredients you need to make the devilled prawns ready.
- 3
Clean and devein the prawns(700g).
- 4
Drain any excess water(pat dry if need be with kitchen paper towels).
- 5
If you want to learn how to clean and devein prawns.
- 6
You can learn it on this post on how to clean shrimp with step-by-step images and instructions.
- 7
This is also my new recipe blog dedicated to only the best seafood recipes.
- 8
Place them in a bowl(use a glass bowl, it’s easier to get rid of any residual smell of prawns than in a plastic bowl).
- 9
Add lime juice, a pinch of salt and set aside for 10-15 minutes.How to make the spicy devilled prawns.
- 10
Place a large wok or frying pan over low to medium heat and pour in the oil.
- 11
Leave it to warm for a few seconds.
- 12
Add the curry leaves(substitute with a bay leaf), and pandan(opt out if this ingredient is not available to you) and let it sizzle.
- 13
Followed by chopped or minced ginger and minced garlic.
- 14
Continuously stir and cook over low to medium fire for 2 minutes.
- 15
Increase the heat to medium and add in the onion, capsicums (substitute with bell peppers) and tomato wedges.
- 16
Toss and cook them for 2 minutes( add a tablespoon of oil if you find the onions or capsicums sticking to the bottom of the pan).
- 17
Try not to overcook or cook until the onions, capsicums turn too soft.
- 18
Add the marinated prawns to the wok. Cook until they turn pink.
- 19
At this point, you can decide if you want to slightly sear the prawns, onions, and capsicums over high heat to give them a more barbecue flavour.
- 20
You can do this by tossing the ingredients over high heat for 2 minutes.
- 21
If not, immediately follow the next step below.
- 22
Add tomato sauce(1/4 cup or use your favourite hot sauce), red chilli flakes (reduce as per your need), chilli powder, and season with salt.
- 23
Combine all the ingredients with the prawns and other elements and cook for another 5 minutes over low heat.
- 24
2-3 minutes before you remove the prawns from the fire, taste and check if all the flavours are as you want.
- 25
To add sweetness to the devil shrimp, sprinkle a tablespoon of sugar, and continue to cook until combined.
- 26
Serve warm with any of the side dish recommendations given above.