Ainsley’s Ultimate Barbecue Bible

These are so easy to prepare yet so colourful and visually appetizing. The local Thai fishermen were so impressed that they wanted me to share some of the local ‘Hard Stuff’. Needless to say, that was the end of the day’s filming.

Serves 4

450 g (1 lb) raw, headless tiger prawns

1 stalk of lemongrass

3 limes

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

120 ml (4 fl oz) canned coconut milk

6 tablespoons light soy sauce

2 teaspoons palm or light muscovado sugar

For the dipping sauce

1 baby cucumber or a 5 cm (2 in) piece of ordinary cucumber

50 ml (2 fl oz) rice wine or white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon caster sugar

1 red birdseye chilli, seeded and finely chopped

2 teaspoons chopped roasted peanuts

8 x 15 cm (6 in) bamboo skewers soaked in cold water for 30 minutes

Remove the tough outer leaves from the stalk of lemongrass and finely chop the tender core. Finely grate the zest from one of the limes and squeeze out the juice. Cut the remaining limes into small wedges.

Put the lemongrass, lime zest, lime juice, garlic, coconut milk, soy sauce and sugar into a non-metallic dish. Add the prawns, mix together well and set aside to marinate at room temperature for about 15 minutes or for up to 2 hours in the fridge.

For the dipping sauce, cut the cucumber in half and scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon. Cut the remaining cucumber into very small dice. Mix with the vinegar, sugar and chilli until the sugar has dissolved and then spoon into small serving bowls. Sprinkle over the peanuts.

Thread 4 prawns on to each skewer in pairs together with 2 lime wedges. Pierce through the tail of one prawn, add a lime wedge and then skewer the head end of the prawn so that it wraps itself around the lime attractively. Do this once more and repeat for the rest of the skewers.

Barbecue the skewers over medium-hot coals for about 1 minute on each side or until just cooked through. Serve at once with the dipping sauce, garnished with the remaining lime wedges.