Coriander & Lime Prawn Tacos with Corn Tortillas

Ingredients

• 500 g raw king prawns, peeled, deveined
• 8 small corn tortillas, warmed
• 1 cucumber, cut into small cubes
• 2 tomatoes, finely diced
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 tbsp garlic-infused olive oil
• 1 long red chilli, finely chopped
• 3 spring onions, green tops only, sliced
• 4 tbsp lactose-free soured cream
• 2 limes, juiced, plus wedges to serve
• 30g fresh coriander, chopped
• ripe avocados, sliced, to serve
• red cabbage slaw, to serve
• pickled jalapeños, to serve

Method

1. Tip the diced tomatoes, cucumber, chilli, spring onion tops and coriander into a bowl. Squeeze in the lime juice, season with salt and a good crack of pepper, and set aside — fifteen minutes on the side and the salsa starts to taste like itself rather than four separate things in a bowl.
2. Toss the prawns with the cumin, smoked paprika and garlic-infused oil until every prawn is slick and rust-red. Season generously with salt and pepper before they hit the pan — prawns cook in two minutes, so this is your only window to season them.
3. Get a heavy frying pan or griddle smoking hot over your highest flame. Tip the spice-coated prawns and oil straight in — the oil hits the heat and blooms the cumin and paprika in seconds, so you taste the spices rather than dusty raw powder. Lay the prawns out in a single layer; cook in two batches if your pan looks crowded, because crowded prawns steam and go grey rather than charring.
4. Cook for 2–3 minutes, tossing once, until they curl, turn coral-pink and pick up dark char marks at the edges. Squeeze the lime juice straight into the pan — it will hiss and steam. Toss the prawns through the citrussy pan juices for 10 seconds, then pull off the heat. Taste one: it should be smoky, sweet and sharp. Adjust salt now, not at the table.
5. Warm the corn tortillas in a dry pan over medium-high heat for about 30 seconds per side, until soft, pliable and lightly blistered in patches. Stack them under a clean tea towel as you go — they steam each other soft.
6. Plate up: spread each warm tortilla with a spoonful of soured cream, pile on the charred prawns, spoon the cucumber-tomato salsa over the top, then lay on sliced avocado, a tangle of red cabbage slaw and a few pickled jalapeños. Finish each taco with a squeeze of lime from the wedges.