Grilled Tiger Prawns in Butter with Spaghetti

There's spaghetti behind the prawn, literally translates to "ada mee di sebalik udang".

Prawns, along with fish are among the must-have seafood during Chinese New Year. Fish, which rhymes with "abundance" in the Chinese language, while the pronunciation of prawns rhymes with the sound of laughter, are considered as auspicious dishes to be consumed during the festive seasons. Us Chinese will stock up the pantry with these seafood along with other delicacies, to be cooked and enjoyed during the festivities.

There are many ways to cook up prawns, and especially when the prawns were really fresh, a simple steam or grill is sufficient to bring out the natural sweetness of the seafood. Last week  JBoy and I went prawn fishing and we caught some fresh tiger prawns, which we transformed into this simple and auspicious "Happiness and Longevity" dish, made with fresh tiger prawns (happiness) and uncut strands of spaghetti (longevity).

Its really easy to throw this dish together, and by serving it with spaghetti its a complete meal on its own. To make a dish of tiger prawns to go with rice, add the minced garlic, onions, chilies and basil into the butter after dishing up the prawns, fry til fragrant, turn off heat and throw back the prawn in for a quick stir to coat the prawn in butter sauce. This decadently simple method to prepare prawns really makes the natural sweetness of seafood stand out.

Recipe for Tiger Prawns Spaghetti
Ingredients:
Fresh tiger prawns, cleaned and trimmed
Spaghetti, cooked al dente
1-2 red chillies, minced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 yellow onions minced
Lemon juice (optional)
A few sprigs of basil, minced (optional)
Butter, lots of it.

Direction
In a large skillet, melt butter.
Grill all the prawns with high heat until cooked (when they turn red).
Dish out the prawns and throw in the minced garlic and onion (add more butter, if needed).
Saute garlic in prawn infused butter until fragrant.
Dump in the al dente spaghetti, stir to properly mix.
Turn off the heat, throw in the minced chilli and basil.
Dish on a plate and arrange prawns on top of the spaghetti.
Drizzle with lemon juice to taste, or omit it altogether.