“Father I love you more than salt” so reads the Fairy Tale “More than Salt” by a modern fairytale writer Kyddren. In this fairytale one of the King’s daughter tells her father the King that she loves him more than diamonds. The next daughter says that she loves him more than gold and the third daughter says that she loves him more than salt. The reason of course was that salt was one of the most precious commodities for its ability to preserve and flavour items back in a time where fridges and freezers weren’t commonplace as well as its ability to stave off diseases like scurvy.

This afternoon, Queen Viv and I were part of a tasting panel for the new Salt Book where we would try 15 different kinds of salts and pair them with different foods. On the table there are small bowls of salts including Himalayan Pink Salt, Fleur de Sel, Cyprus Black salt, Halen Mon salt, Hawaiian green salt, Cyprus Lemon salt, Maldon and Indian Black salt. We try them with a variety of foods including slices of tomato, boiled egg, cucumber, pineapple, rockmelon, beef fillet, lamb and chicken.

What is apparent from the outset is that while salt is of course well …salty it is also very different. One of the clearest examples is using the #4 salt in our tasting on pink grapefruit. I usally find pink grapefruit far too sour for me and when I try it with the other salts it is still so sour but with a bit of #4 salt it completely changes the taste and gives it a burst of flavour.

Another thing that we learn is that people’s taste in salt is completely different. What some of us loved as a pairing, others disliked and often we disagreed with the recommended salt and food pairing which we learnt  could make for fascinating dinner party conversation! Here’s Helen Greenwood’s article from Good Living about the salt tasting which is a great read.

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When I was little I feared the red pen from my Mother. As some Chinese children will know, your youth is not spent playing outside, it is instead spent doing comprehensions and reading texts and we’d have to a bit of a play outside but sports were not a focus at all (and they wonder why I can’t catch a ball to save my life). After each comprehension, Mother’s red pen would come out and she’d ruthlessly correct it. She meant well I’m sure, and she was a teacher after all, but I got to hate that red pen.

However with all of those red pen corrections and comprehensions life was not bad. After all, there was also very good food to be had at home. One dish that I loved growing up with Singapore chilli prawns or crab. Her version has an amazingly delectable sauce that we often make more of just so we can spoon some extra on the plain rice and eat by itself long after all the prized seafood is eaten. This is one of those dishes that is very quick to cook once everything is cut up so if you prepare everything in the morning, it takes about 10 minutes to cook when you get home from work.

I used some fantastic green Crystal Bay Prawns. Nothing gets me more excited than fresh food deliveries and when I was offered some Crystal Bay Prawns by my darling friend The Second Wife, a hungry seafood monster emerged. I am a shameless hussy as far as good seafood is concerned and I knew that Crystal Bay prawns were well regarded as they often feature on top restaurant menus – you know the ones where they mention the provenance of the items.

My mum showed me how to make it but I had to ask her to slow down for my photos as I walked away distracted (I was mesmerised watching Martha Stewart on TV making cookies) and realised that the whole dish was almost cooked. My mum’s recipes are generally quite short and to the point and not like my flowery ones but this one is short in text because it is short in the frypan. Just one hint my lovelies and that is be sure to have plenty of rice ready to mop up the extra gravy.

So tell me Dear Reader, do you like spicy food? And how hot can you take it?

Singapore Chilli Prawns

Ingredients:

• 750 grams prawns, peeled and butterflied (sliced down the back)
• 2 large red chillis finely sliced (you can use a little bird’s eye chilli if you like it very hot)
• Thumb sized piece of ginger (diced)
• 2-3 cloves garlic (smashed)
• 2 teaspoons of oil
• Spring onions to garnish (optional)

Sauce:

• 280mls/10 ozs water
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 4 tablespoons tomato sauce
• 3/4 tablespoon chilli sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 3/4 tablespoon white vinegar
• In another bowl mix 1 1/2 tablespoons cornflour with 2-3 tablespoons plain water
• 1 egg, beaten and stirred in at the last step

Method:

1. Heat wok or frypan on medium to high heat and add 2 teaspoons of oil. Fry prawns for 1 minute. Scoop out.

2. Fry garlic, ginger, red chilli, then add in fried prawn. Next add in the sauce ingredients and simmer for 1 minute. Add in the cornflour mixture to thicken the gravy.

3. Lastly, add in a beaten egg, stir the gravy while adding in the egg. Sprinkle chopped spring onion on top if using.

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