Recipes
Peri Peri Prawns with Kachumbari Salad
Serves 4
| Prep Time: 25 mins
| Cook Time: 10 mins
| Total Time: 35 mins
Discover The Recipe
Located on the southeast coast of Africa, Mozambique is a country with a proud cultural heritage and beautiful tourmaline-blue waters. As we explore the flavors and cuisine of East Africa, this recipe for Peri Peri Prawns with Kachumbari salad is typical of meals you will find in the region. Spiced with a smoky-garlicky-tangy sauce, this features fresh shrimp and is simple to make but loaded with flavor. Peri Peri is known as an African-Portuguese fusion and is one of our favorite spice blends.
The Portuguese connection traces back to Vasco de Gama, one of the early global explorers, famous for the first sea voyage from Europe to India (1497-99) via the Horn of Africa. Portugal colonized many of the regions along his route, including nearly 500 year rule of Mozambique leaving their cultural mark. While you can use our Peri Peri spice blend as a dry rub, we love using it as the base for a marinade and adding plenty of fresh lemon and garlic to get the lemony-garlicky tanginess that so characterizes Peri Peri. The traditional spice is fiery hot because it's made with African Birds Eye chilis. We dial back the heat to allow you to customize to your tastes.
Ingredients
For the Kachumbari salad:
½ red onion, chopped
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
½ seedless cucumber, chopped
½ cup cilantro loosely packed, chopped
1 jalapeno, deseeded and chopped (optional)
1 Tbsp olive oil
½ tsp kosher salt
Juice of ½ lemon + extra lemon wedges for garnish
For the Peri Peri Prawns:
½ cup vegetable oil
6 cloves garlic, sliced
1 red bell pepper, de-seeded and sliced
2 Tbsp Piquant Post Peri Peri spice
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
1 lb raw shrimp
Juice of ½ lemon
Notes
Frying the aromatics and spices in oil brings this dish to a whole new level. When you fry spices in oil, it enhances their flavor, making the spices bold and more intense. Don’t skip this step!
You’ll only use about half of the marinade for the shrimp. Save the rest to marinate chicken or other meats - some great recipes are below!
Optional ingredients add a little character and flavor but don’t sweat it if you don’t have them.
Instructions
Prep all the ingredients for the salad. Combine into a medium bowl and mix well.
In a medium pan, heat half of the vegetable oil over Med-High heat. Add garlic and red bell pepper. Stir and cook for about 2-3 minutes. Add Piquant Post Peri Peri, stir for 1 more minute. Remove from stove top to cool, add remaining vegetable oil.
Once the oil is cooled, pour oil / vegetable mixture into a blender. Add salt and cayenne pepper, and lightly blend. We kept our marinade a little chunky, but if preferred, blend to smooth. Mix ½ cup of the blended marinade with the raw shrimp for at least 10 mins. Freeze or refrigerate remaining marinade for another dish.
Heat a medium pan or cast-iron pan over Med-High heat. Add shrimp, leaving most of the marinade behind, and sear the shrimp for 2 minutes. Flip the shrimp, add remaining used shrimp marinade and cook 1-2 more minutes, adding lemon juice over top. Serve this juicy shrimp alongside Kachumbari salad and extra lemon!
Alternatives & Substitutions
If it’s nice outside, use your barbecue and skewer the shrimp and grill for 2-3 minutes per side.
Try using Peri Peri in our Peri Peri Skirt Steak, Peri Peri Grilled Chicken, or Peri Peri Chicken with Ranch.
Our Peri Peri spice blend also works fine as a dry rub on chicken and other meats. But we always recommend creating a full marinade to achieve maximum flavor.
For a vegan/vegetarian option, try our Peri Peri Cauliflower Steak or Spicy Fries with Peri Peri Aioli
For other options, use the spice to create a sauce, and add to Baked Chorizo and Veggies, or a Peri Peri Roasted Veggie Sandwich.
Be sure to leave comments and feedback on your meals and experiments in the comments for others to read.
Post pictures of your masterpiece meal on social media and tag us. We repost!
Peri Peri Prawns with Kachumbari Salad
Ingredients
For the Kachumbari salad:
½ red onion, chopped
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
½ seedless cucumber, chopped
½ cup cilantro loosely packed, chopped
1 jalapeno, deseeded and chopped (optional)
1 Tbsp olive oil
½ tsp kosher salt
Juice of ½ lemon + extra lemon wedges for garnish
For the Peri Peri Prawns:
½ cup vegetable oil
6 cloves garlic, sliced
1 red bell pepper, de-seeded and sliced
2 Tbsp Piquant Post Peri Peri spice
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
1 lb raw shrimp
Juice of ½ lemon
Instructions
Prep all the ingredients for the salad. Combine into a medium bowl and mix well.
In a medium pan, heat half of the vegetable oil over Med-High heat. Add garlic and red bell pepper. Stir and cook for about 2-3 minutes. Add Piquant Post Peri Peri, stir for 1 more minute. Remove from stove top to cool, add remaining vegetable oil.
Once the oil is cooled, pour oil / vegetable mixture into a blender. Add salt and cayenne pepper, and lightly blend. We kept our marinade a little chunky, but if preferred, blend to smooth. Mix ½ cup of the blended marinade with the raw shrimp for at least 10 mins. Freeze or refrigerate remaining marinade for another dish.
Heat a medium pan or cast-iron pan over Med-High heat. Add shrimp, leaving most of the marinade behind, and sear the shrimp for 2 minutes. Flip the shrimp, add remaining used shrimp marinade and cook 1-2 more minutes, adding lemon juice over top. Serve this juicy shrimp alongside Kachumbari salad and extra lemon!
Notes
Frying the aromatics and spices in oil brings this dish to a whole new level. When you fry spices in oil, it enhances their flavor, making the spices bold and more intense. Don’t skip this step!
You’ll only use about half of the marinade for the shrimp. Save the rest to marinate chicken or other meats - some great recipes are below!
Optional ingredients add a little character and flavor but don’t sweat it if you don’t have them.
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