A prawn and noodle dish that’s quicker than ordering takeaway
This was a mid-week staple in my mother’s kitchen, quietly ingraining itself into my own recipe repertoire over time.
Some recipes hold the power to whisk us back to cherished moments of our childhood: the aroma of your mother’s special roast chicken or the taste of your grandmother’s lemon delicious pudding can evoke a flood of nostalgic memories of gathering around the family dinner table.
Yet, amid these cooking treasures lie a different category of recipes – ones passed down not for their sentimental value, but rather through the unspoken transmission of everyday life. These dishes find their place in our cooking repertoire simply because they were fixtures in our parents’ kitchens. They may not provoke emotions, but their reliability and efficiency offer a different kind of comfort.
For me, this prawn, leek, and chilli noodle dish embodies this sentiment. It wasn’t associated with special occasions or heartwarming memories; rather, it was a mid-week staple in my mother’s kitchen, quietly ingraining itself into my own recipe repertoire over time.
This simple dish requires minimal ingredients and can be assembled swiftly – it’s faster than ordering take-out when the craving hits. I keep a bag of raw prawn meat stashed in my freezer which means this dish is not something I have to plan for (these can be defrosted in cold, salted water in 15 minutes flat). Noodles serve as the perfect base for mid-week cooking, thanks to their quick cooking time and pantry shelf life. A special call out to rice noodles which require minimal effort, typically needing only a few minutes in boiling water to be ready.
Try my green chicken noodle salad too.
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Prawn and snap pea noodles
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves, grated
- 1-2 fresh red bird’s eye chillies, deseeded and finely sliced
- 300g raw prawns, peeled but tails intact
- 200g (2 serves) dried flat vermicelli noodles
- 1 leek, thinly sliced
- 2 cups sugar snap peas or snow peas, top and tailed
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
Method
- Combine 2 tablespoons of the oil, the garlic, chilli and prawns in a medium bowl. Cook the noodles according to packet instructions. Set aside.
- Heat the remaining oil in a wok or large frying pan over high temperature. Add the leek and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until soft then remove and set aside. Add the prawns to the pan and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until they turn a light shade of pink.
- Return the leeks to the pan, add the sugar snap peas or snow peas, fish sauce and sugar. Cook for a further minute. Remove from the heat.
- Add the noodles to the pan and toss to combine. Serve immediately.
Serves 2