Mauritian vindaye prawns
Prep time: 30 minsTotal time: 
Mauritian vindaye prawns
‘A true vindaye pickle is sharp, punchy and warming from mustard and turmeric. It tastes even better after a day or two in the fridge, when the chillies and spices sit in the vinegar and the heat has time to soften and harmonise – but in my experience it doesn’t tend to last that long.’
Prep time: 30 minsTotal time: 
Shelina Permalloo
A former MasterChef winner in 2012, Shelina, a Mauritian Muslim born in the UK, is now a successful food writer and presenter. She runs Lakaz Maman in Southampton, where she serves up Mauritian street-food style dishes
Shelina Permalloo
A former MasterChef winner in 2012, Shelina, a Mauritian Muslim born in the UK, is now a successful food writer and presenter. She runs Lakaz Maman in Southampton, where she serves up Mauritian street-food style dishes
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp vegetable or sunflower oil
- 2 x 165g packs Taste the Difference Large Raw Peeled King Prawns
- 1 Taste the Difference French Stonebaked White Baguette, cut into 4
- 50g butter, to serve
For the vindaye paste
- 1½ tbsp yellow mustard seeds
- ½ tbsp black mustard seeds
- 6 garlic cloves, peeled
- 3cm piece fresh ginger, peeled
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
For the pickle
- 2 onions, halved, then each half sliced into quarters lengthways
- 4 chillies (we used red and green), sliced in half and seeds removed
- 10-12 fresh curry leaves
- 75ml white wine vinegar
- 1½ tsp sugar
Step by step
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For the vindaye paste, put both mustard seeds, the garlic cloves, ginger and turmeric in a mini food processor and pulse to a rough paste. It doesn’t need to be completely smooth – the mustard seeds should still have texture. You can also do this by hand using a pestle and mortar. In Mauritius, we would traditionally grind this using a roche cari, a large rectangular grinding stone used with a cylindrical handheld stone to bruise and grind spices, chutneys and pastes.
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Heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a nonstick frying pan over a high heat, then fry the prawns quickly for about 1 minute on each side, until just cooked. Remove the prawns to a plate.
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Add the remaining oil to the frying pan, then add the onions, chillies, curry leaves and vindaye paste. Cook for about 2 minutes, until fragrant. The onions should stay quite crunchy, as this gives the vindaye its texture. Pour in the vinegar to deglaze the pan, then balance the flavour by stirring in the sugar and some salt. Remove from the heat and return the prawns to the pan. Mix well and season to taste – it should be sharp, salty, warm and slightly bitter from the mustard. Adjust if needed, adding more vinegar for sharpness, a pinch more sugar for balance or more salt to boost the overall flavour.
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The best way to enjoy this is to let the prawns cool and eat them at room temperature. To serve, split the baguettes, spread with butter and pile in the prawn vindaye.
