Handy Tips For Cooking Prawns

How to cook frozen prawns

Prawns are a delicious and nutritious superfood of the sea that can be cooked in a variety of ways – grilled, fried, barbecued and broiled. There are countless dishes and cuisines in that prawns can be used for. Seafood Paella, Poke bowl and Prawn Jambalaya just to name a few.

Having prawns in your freezer guarantees a variety of recipe options!

Cooked or raw?

You can use either cooked or frozen for most recipes. In general, cooked prawns are good for cold dishes such as salads, or served alone with a dipping sauce. Shore Mariner Cooked Prawn Cutlets are popular for their convenience, speed and versatility. Shore Mariner Raw Prawns are a great option for hot meals such as in curries, pastas and stir-fries . Which one to use is your choice to make, just make sure prawns are properly thawed and if choosing raw make sure to cook it through until colour changes from opaque to light pink.

Cooking & defrosting prawns

It is important to make sure the prawns are completely defrosted before cooking them. For best results, cover and refrigerate overnight.

If cooking a prawn-based meal is more of a spontaneous decision , you can defrost the prawns in cold water for 15 minutes.

Here is how:

1. Empty prawns into a glass bowl

2. Cover with cold water (make sure the water is cold!), stir and drain

3. Repeat and leave for 15 minutes

4. Place prawns in a sieve and rinse with cold water

Shell on or off?

This is a personal choice, some prefer to keep the head, legs and shell of bigger prawns for added flavour & texture and appearance

If you are choosing the peeled route, it is recommended to devein the prawn before consumption to avoid a gritty taste. The black line that runs down a shelled prawn is the ‘vein’.

How to devein prawns?

1. Remove the head, legs and shell from the prawn

2. With a sharp knife make a slit at the back of the prawn and pull out the vein

But don’t discard the shell immediately, a lot of chefs use the shell to make prawn stock and use it to add more flavour to a dish.

Feeling inspired to make a prawn based meal? Check out our range of prawns, there is something for any recipe. Find it in the frozen food aisle in your local supermarket.