The Perfect Date Night Recipe To Impress a women

The genius of this date night recipe is that it looks colourful and exotic, packs a serious flavour punch, but is actually very easy to make. You can get all of the prep work done earlier in the day, leaving you plenty of time to get dressed and perfect the mood lighting. So long as you have all the ingredients ready to go, the cooking time takes only a few minutes, so your date wont be left twiddling her thumbs while you’re flapping around in the kitchen. Plus it’s fresh, healthy and low in calories so it should be a sure fire winner with any girl… and the kick of chilli should help to spice things up between the two of you…

SPICY TAMARIND PRAWNS WITH CHILLI & PEANUTS

INGREDIENTS, 12 King prawns, raw and peeled, 2 handfuls of unsalted peanuts, 1 large thumb-size piece of ginger, grated, 1 red chilli, finely sliced, 1 large garlic clove, crushed, 3 heaped tbsp tamarind paste (available in Waitrose), 2 tbsp fish sauce (Nam Pla), 1 ½ tbsp palm sugar (or light Muscovado sugar), Zest and juice of 1 lime, plus extra to serve, 1 small bunch of coriander, roughly chopped, 2 tbsp Vegetable oil

METHOD, 1. Heat the oven to 160?C. Put the peanuts in a baking tray and into the oven for 8 minutes or until golden brown. Remove, leave to cool, and then roughly chop., 2. Prepare the ginger, chilli and garlic (These can be kept together on a small plate until needed). Chop the coriander, and keep separately., 3. Mix together in a bowl the tamarind paste, fish sauce and palm sugar. Allow for the sugar to dissolve slightly. You can adjust the balance of flavours to your taste, it should be tangy but not unpleasantly sharp., 4. When it’s time to eat, heat the vegetable oil in a wok (or frying pan) over a medium heat. Tip in the ginger, chilli and garlic and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes. Add your tamarind, fish sauce and palm sugar mix, cook for another minute or two., 5. Add your prawns and stir them around until coated in the sauce. Turn up the heat and cook for 2 minutes on each side until they are pink and opaque., 6. Stir through most of the peanuts and the coriander. Remove from the heat. Squeeze the lime juice on top and garnish with the rest of the peanuts, coriander and lime zest., Suggestion: Serve immediately on top of sticky white rice that will soak up all that delicious sauce. This dish goes really well with a chilled white wine.

A WORD TO THE WISE…, After prepping the ingredients wash your hands thoroughly with COLD water rather than hot. No one wants chilli in the eyes or anywhere else..!

Words by Laura Cripps