Prawn & Avocado Protein Bowl

Ingredients

• 300 g raw king prawns, peeled and deveined
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 0.5 tsp chilli flakes
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 ripe avocado, sliced
• 150 g cooked quinoa
• 100 g cherry tomatoes, halved
• 80 g rocket or mixed leaves
• 0.5 cucumber, diced
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• salt and black pepper
• Crusty ciabatta, to serve
• Fresh basil, to serve

Method

1. Pat the prawns dry on kitchen paper — water means steam, and steam means no caramelised edges. Toss them with the smoked paprika, chilli flakes, olive oil, and a generous pinch of salt and pepper until every prawn is slicked rust-red. The oil here does double duty: it carries the spice and blooms the paprika as it hits the pan, so the smoke tastes of itself rather than dusty powder.
2. Heat a stainless or cast-iron frying pan over high heat until it's properly smoking. Add the prawns in a single layer and don't crowd them — work in two batches if your pan is on the small side. All at once and the pan drops temperature, water leaches out, and you've poached grey prawns instead of searing pink ones. Cook 90 seconds per side until they're coral-pink, just firm, and catching at the edges.
3. Whisk the lime juice with the extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt until glossy and emulsified. Taste it — it should be sharp enough to make you blink, with the salt pulling the lime forward.
4. Toss the rocket, cherry tomatoes, and cucumber with half the dressing so every leaf is just slicked, not drowned.
5. Divide the quinoa between two bowls. Taste it first and season if it needs it — cooked quinoa is almost always under-salted. Top with the dressed salad and fan the avocado slices over.
6. Pile the hot prawns straight from the pan onto each bowl, drizzle with the remaining dressing, finish with a heavy grind of black pepper, and tuck the lime wedges alongside for an extra squeeze at the table.