Prawns with Chilli Crisp, Greens & Brown Rice

Ingredients

• 250g brown rice, rinsed
• 3 spring onions, finely sliced
• 400g raw king prawns, peeled
• 2 tbsp chilli crisp
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 lime, cut into wedges
• 200g green beans, trimmed
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 20g ginger, grated
• 2 garlic cloves, grated
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 2 pak choi, thickly sliced
• Crusty sourdough bread, to serve
• Fresh parsley, to serve

Method

1. Get the brown rice going first — it's the longest job. Tip it into a pan of well-salted water (it should taste like the sea) and simmer for around 25 minutes until tender with a little chew. Drop the edamame in for the final 3 minutes, then drain together and keep warm.
2. While the rice cooks, toss the prawns with the chilli crisp and soy sauce in a bowl. Pat them dry on kitchen paper first — water means steam, and steam means no sear. Leave them to sit while you get the greens moving.
3. Heat the sesame oil in a large stainless or cast iron frying pan over a high heat. When it shimmers, add the green beans and leave them alone for 2 minutes — you want blistered patches, not even colour. Toss and cook another minute.
4. Add the pak choi, ginger and garlic and stir-fry for 2 minutes until the pak choi stems are just tender but still have bite. Keep things moving — cook the garlic just until fragrant, no more. Burnt garlic turns the whole dish bitter. Season with salt and pepper and slide the greens onto a plate.
5. Return the pan to high heat. Add the prawns in a single layer — don't crowd them, or they'll steam in their own juices and go grey instead of pink. Work in two batches if your pan is on the smaller side. Sear for 1 minute, turn, and cook another 1 to 2 minutes until pink and just opaque through the middle.
6. Tip the greens back in, splash in any chilli crisp marinade left in the bowl, and toss for 30 seconds so the spicy oil coats the lot and picks up the brown bits from the pan. Squeeze of lime over the prawns off the heat — the acid sharpens the chilli crisp and stops it feeling heavy. Taste, season, taste again. Adjust now, not at the table.
7. Fluff the spring onions through the warm rice and edamame.
8. Divide the rice between bowls, pile the chilli crisp prawns and greens on top, and tuck the lime wedges alongside for squeezing at the table.