We South Africans tend to prepare seafood very much according to wellknown, almost traditional recipes, with a variation of peri-peri, lemon, garlic, curry flavours to prawns, crayfish, calamari and mussels.

Not that there's anything wrong with this, but sometimes we need to be a little more adventurous, especially when we are entertaining guests or having a 'special occasion' meal at home.

I am forever looking for new ideas and to my joy I recently found a lovely little recipe book called 'The festive Food of India and Pakistan' and in there I discovered this exceptionally nice dish of prawns baked with yoghurt and mustard seeds.

For a rare treat — because prawns are so darned expensive — I now make this dish as an occasional main course, but it's actually perfect as an unusual starter for dinner parties.

It really is quite easy to make and you don't need a long list of fancy ingredients.

You will need:

  • 500g of prawns, preferably cleaned and shelled

  • 2 tablespoons mustard seeds (black & yellow)

  • 3 green chillies, seeded

  • 2 cloves of garlic, crushed & finely chopped

  • 4-6 tablespoons plain yoghurt

  • 1 teaspoon of turmeric

  • 1 teaspoon salt

  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (not olive)

    • Instructions:

    If the prawns haven’t been cleaned, slit their backs and remove the black vein.

    Grind the mustard seeds and chillies with 50ml water.

    Place the prawns in a casserole dish.

    Mix the seed and chilli pasta with the yoghurt and pour it over the prawns.

    Cover and bake in a oven pre-heated to 190°C for one hour.

    Serve with plain white rice.

    (Optional: It's not part of the original recipe, but I like to sprinkle a little fresh lemon juice and a few chopped fresh coriander leaves over the prawns just before serving).