SINGAPORE, Aug 6 — Being an island-state, seafood is one of Singaporean’s favourite dishes.

Give it a mod-Sin touch with a non-spicy laksa pesto that complements the sweetness of the grilled prawns perfectly.

Serve 6 to 8

Ingredients

For grilled prawns:

24 pieces of fresh large prawns

1 small piece of garlic, grated

1/2 tbsp of vegetable oil

For laksa and coriander pesto:

(makes about 300g)

80g mixed roasted peanuts and cashew nuts

40g laksa leaves (snip off the stalk)

30g coriander leaves and stalk

2 cloves of raw garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

4 cloves of raw shallots, peeled and roughly chopped

2.5 tbsp of fish sauce

2.5 tbsp of white sugar

7 tbsp of vegetable or canola oil

Additional:

1 cup of unsweetened, plain Greek yogurt

4 calamansi limes

Method

1. Wash and trim off the sharp beak and the antennae of the prawns. Using a sharp scissors, cut through the shell down the spine of the prawns till the tip of the tail. Butterfly and de-vein the prawns.

2. Mix the grated garlic in vegetable oil and toss through the prawns.

3. Put a non-stick griddle pan or frying pan on medium-high heat. When it is smoking slightly, press the prawns into the pan, flesh-side down. Cook for one minute, and turn over to grill the shell sides of the prawns for two to three minutes. Remove when the flesh of the prawns turns white and the shell and head is a bright red and has some char marks.

4. Blitz all the ingredients for the pesto in a food processor till smooth. Drizzle one to two tablespoons over grilled prawns.

5. For the pesto yogurt sauce, mix 100g yogurt with three tablespoons of pesto and juice of four calamansi limes. Mix well. Adjust to taste, add in more pesto if you prefer a punchier flavour. — TODAY