Simply cooked prawns accented with a sauce can anchor a very tasty meal, especially if that sauce is chermoula.
Chermoula is a North African-style sauce/condiment similar in style to Argentine chimichurri and Spanish salsa verde — chopped fresh herbs are combined with other ingredients, creating a green-hued, zesty sauce.
In most recipes I’ve seen for chermoula, those chopped herbs are parsley and cilantro, but in some, mint and/or thyme is also used.
To make the chermoula, the herbs are blended with olive oil and the flavourings. The latter includes such things as garlic, lemon, chilies and spices such as cumin, coriander, paprika and/or saffron. You’ll also see ginger added to some chermoula recipes, including mine.
You can make the chermoula in a food processor, which is what I did. If you don’t have a food processor, you can use a sharp knife to finely chop the herbs, garlic and ginger, transfer them to a bowl, then mix in the other ingredients.
In some recipes for chermoula, whole spices are toasted and blended into the sauce. But in my recipe, I simplified things and used ground spices, which is what many readers say they keep in their home kitchens. To awaken their flavours, though, I did heat and lightly toast those ground spices before using them in the chermoula.
Chermoula is often served with or used to flavour fish and seafood. But it can also be served with or used to marinate such things as chicken, beef, lamb and vegetables.
It can also be used to flavour salads and other sauces, such as hummus, serve as a spread for sandwiches, pizza and flatbreads, or be swirled into soups and other dishes. In other words, it will work well with any type of food that will benefit from its bright-tasting, herbaceous, tangy, heavenly spiced flavour.
In my recipe, I used chermoula to flavour prawns. To make the dish, large prawns were sautéed in olive oil in a skillet a short while, chermoula was added, and the prawns were coated with it. The prawns were then heated a short while longer, until just cooked through, and served with more chermoula spooned over them on the plate.
The end result is a sublimely tasty prawn dish you could serve with couscous and North African-style tomato cucumber salad.
In the recipe, I’ve also given you the option to serve the prawns with thick yogurt, which you can spoon alongside them once they’re on the plate. The tangy yogurt works well with the flavour of the chermoula.
My recipe yields about 1/2 cup of chermoula, enough for the two servings of prawns the recipe yields. If you want to use chermoula in other ways, you could double or further expand the recipe.
Chermoula, if kept in a tight-sealing jar, should keep at least five days in the refrigerator.
Prawns with Chermoula
Plump prawns are quickly sautéed and coated with chermoula, a zesty, flavourful North African-style sauce.
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: about five minutes
Makes: two servings
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp ground cayenne pepper
1/2 cup (packed) cilantro leaves with tender stems (see Eric options)
1/2 cup (packed) Italian (flat leaf) parsley leaves with tender stems
1 large garlic clove, halved and thinly sliced
1 tsp chopped fresh ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp olive oil (divided)
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
12 to 14 large wild prawns, peeled with the tip of the tail left intact, patted dry (see Note)
• lemon slices and cilantro or parsley sprigs, for garnish
• thick plain yogurt, to taste (optional)
Place the coriander, cumin, paprika and cayenne in a small non-stick skillet. Set the skillet over medium heat. Heat and stir the spices until aromatic, about 60 to 90 seconds (be careful not to scorch them). Remove skillet from the heat.
Put the cilantro, parsley, garlic, ginger and salt in a small food processor. Add the spices from the skillet, pour in the 1/4 cup olive oil and lemon juice, and pulse to combine and create a sauce. Transfer the chermoula to a small bowl, cover and refrigerate until needed. (It can be made many hours before needed. Warm at room temperature about 30 minutes before using).
To cook prawns, set a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat and add the 1 Tbsp olive oil. When oil is hot, add prawns and cook one minute. Turn each prawn over and cook one minute on the other side. Spoon half (about 1/4 cup) of the chermoula over the prawns. Turn each prawn over again to evenly coat them with the chermoula. Cook the prawns one minute more, or until cooked through.
Divide the prawns between two dinner plates and top them with any chermoula left in the skillet. Garnish each plate with lemon slices and cilantro (or parsley) sprigs. Serve the prawns with the remaining chermoula sauce in the bowl, for spooning on them at the table. If desired, you could also serve the prawns with some thick plain yogurt, dolloping it beside them on the plate.
Note: I used raw, large, shell-on Argentine wild red prawns when testing this recipe. They are sold at many supermarkets. I bought them frozen and a 454-gram bag yielded the prawns needed here, plus a few more. I thawed the ones I needed for this recipe and kept the other ones frozen for another use. Other types of large prawns will also work here.
Tomato Cucumber Salad
Here’s a simple, colourful, light and refreshing North African-style salad that you can serve alongside the prawns with chermoula.
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: None
Makes: two servings
1/4 cup shallots or red onion, cut in 1/4-inch cubes
1 cup cold water
• salt and ground white pepper, to taste
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp honey
12 grape tomatoes or other type of similar sized red cherry tomatoes, each halved
3/4 cup English cucumber, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 Tbsp chopped cilantro, mint or parsley
Place shallots (or onion) in a small bowl, pour in the 1 cup cold water, sprinkling in some salt and let sit 10 minutes. (The soaking and salting of the shallots — or onion — will mellow its strong taste when raw.) Drain shallots (or onions) well.
Combine olive oil, lemon juice and honey in a small salad bowl. Add the drained shallots (or onion), tomatoes, cucumber and cilantro (mint or parsley). Season with salt and pepper and toss to combine.
Cover and refrigerate salad until ready to serve. It can be made an hour or so ahead — toss it again before before serving.
Eric Akis is the author of eight cookbooks. His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.
