Prawn Cocktail with Spicy Mango and Kaffir Lime

Method

1. Put six glasses or small bowls in the fridge to chill.
2. Twist the heads off the prawns and unwrap the shells, leaving the tail on the six best ones.
3. Run the tip of a knife down the back of each prawn and lift out the dark vein.
4. Pat every prawn dry with paper towel, then cover them and put them back in the fridge.
5. Shred the lettuce finely and keep it dry, with no rinsing at this point.
6. Spoon the mayonnaise into a bowl.
7. Stir in the dressing one tablespoon at a time, until the sauce is an even pale apricot.
8. Add the lime juice and a good pinch of salt, then taste it while you can still adjust it.
9. Stir in the mango chutney now if you want the sauce sweeter and chunkier.
10. Cover the bowl and chill the sauce for at least 10 minutes.
11. Divide the shredded lettuce between the cold glasses.
12. Scatter the diced avocado over the lettuce, if you are using it.
13. Pile the peeled prawns on top, keeping the six tail-on prawns aside.
14. Spoon the sauce over the prawns rather than stirring it through them.
15. Hook one tail-on prawn over the rim of each glass and add a lime wedge.
16. Grind black pepper over the top and take them to the table with the crackers.

What you can do the day before

The sauce, all of it. Mixed and covered, it keeps three days in the fridge and it is better on day two, because the chilli and the lime leaf have time to move through the mayonnaise. Shred the lettuce the night before as well and keep it in a container with a sheet of paper towel over the top.

Assemble late. Salt in the sauce pulls water out of shredded lettuce, so a glass built an hour ahead sits in a puddle by the time it reaches the table. Fifteen minutes is plenty of lead time. On a hot day, keep the glasses in the fridge until the moment they are carried out, and take anything uneaten back inside within the hour rather than leaving it in the sun.

Common questions

How many prawns per person for a starter?

Five or six large cooked prawns each, which is roughly 200g of whole unpeeled prawns per adult. That is enough for a first course before a full lunch. If the prawns are the meal, or the table skews towards teenagers, go closer to 400g a head. Buying by weight rather than by number is safer, since prawn grading moves around from one season to the next.

Can you make prawn cocktail ahead of time?

The sauce yes, the assembled glass no. Make the sauce up to three days ahead and keep it covered in the fridge. Peel the prawns on the morning and keep them dry and cold. Build the glasses within about fifteen minutes of serving, because lettuce under a salted, creamy sauce goes limp and watery quickly, and a prawn sitting in sauce loses the firm bite that is the point of it.

What sauce goes with cold prawns?

Three families cover almost every table. Something creamy and sharp, which is this one. Something hot, a chilli sauce loosened with a little oil or stirred into mayonnaise. Something clean and acidic, lemon or lime with olive oil, salt and herbs, for the people who would rather taste the prawn. Our guide to what else to serve with cold seafood sets out all three and what to make the night before.

Can you make it without mayonnaise?

Yes, and it is a lighter plate. Toss the peeled prawns and the diced avocado with a tablespoon of the dressing straight from the bottle, a squeeze of lime and a pinch of salt, then serve them over the lettuce with no cream in sight. Dress it just before it goes out, since the acid starts to firm the surface of the prawns if it sits.

The dressing is one of the small bottles from The Regimental Condiment Company, and the chutney, relishes and mustards that fill in the rest of a seafood platter sit in our gourmet condiments range. Shipping is free Australia-wide on orders over $100. For a version of this that can be carried around a back yard in one hand, our prawn and avocado vol-au-vents use pre-baked pastry cases, and if you are buying for someone else's table this year, the Christmas hampers take the shopping off your hands entirely.