Chilli Prawn Tacos

Storing and Planning Ahead

Components keep 2 days refrigerated. Cook the prawns to order; reheated they toughen.

Making Chilli Prawn Tacos

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1. Toss the cabbage and carrot with the lime juice, oil and salt and leave to sit while you do everything else.

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2. Mix the soured cream with the chipotle paste, lime juice and salt.

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3. Pat the prawns thoroughly dry and toss with the paprika, cumin, garlic powder, cayenne and salt.

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4. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over high heat until just smoking.

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5. Add the prawns in a single layer — two batches if the pan is small — and sear 90 seconds without moving them.

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6. Turn and cook 60 to 90 seconds more, until pink and opaque with browned edges. Squeeze the 2 tablespoons of lime juice over and take off the heat immediately.

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7. Warm the tortillas 20 seconds a side in a dry pan until pliable and blistered.

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8. Fold the coriander through the slaw, then build each taco with slaw, prawns and a spoonful of crema, with lime alongside.

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Worth Knowing

• Dry prawns and a smoking pan. Wet prawns steam and stay pale.
• Ninety seconds a side, timed. Three minutes is a rubber prawn.
• Slaw first in the taco — it stops the tortilla going soft underneath.

Some Background

Prawns go from translucent to rubber in about a minute of overcooking, so they get a screaming pan and ninety seconds a side and nothing more. The slaw is not a garnish: everything else here is soft and rich, and a taco without something crunchy in it collapses into one texture. Dressing the cabbage in lime fifteen minutes ahead softens the raw edge without wilting it, which shredded cabbage will do if it is dressed much earlier.

What to Put Next to It

A cold Mexican lager · Guacamole · Pickled jalapeños

Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Refried Beans, Instant Pot Black Beans, Pan de Muerto.

Ingredient Swaps

• Lemon is the everyday swap for lime in this kind of dish — the acidity plays the same role even though the flavour is not identical.

Nutrition per Serving

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.

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