Test Kitchen is a new feature on nzgirl, where each month the girls in the office will try out a yummy recipe; preparing and cooking a meal completely from scratch!

Test Kitchen is all about trying things out and having fun - of course this is cooking nzgirl style so making sure it’s relatively quick, simple and pretty much foolproof is a definite must!

And whatever we cook, we eat so we definitely want something yummy to bite into after all our hard work! This is all about delicious, fresh and healthy food. Join us every month for a bit of culinary inspiration and guidance...
 

Pacifc Prawns and Kumara Cakes

This month we tried making scrummy Pacific Prawns and Kumara Cakes. This dish is perfect for a light summer lunch. It cooks in no time at all, but does take a little bit of preparation. If you plan on serving this to a few friends, we recommend preparing the ingredients the night before or prior to cooking. That way you won’t be stuck in the kitchen, missing out on any important socialising or wine time!

You don’t need to be totally strict about the ingredients - play around and add in more of what you like, and less of what you don’t! We found we needed an extra egg to get the patties to bind together, plus we used sweet chilli instead of hot chilli (it was still quite hot so leave it out if you dont like anything too spicy).

Ingredients
700g green prawns, peeled and preferably deveined with tails intact (we had to devein ours ourselves - check out how, further down)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
Grated zest of 1 lime
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon hot chilli sauce (we used sweet chilli)
¼ cup coconut milk
2 tablespoons fresh coriander, chopped
Lemon wedges to garnish

Kumara Cakes
250g golden kumara, peeled and coarsely grated
250g courgettes, coarsely grated
2 tablespoons fresh coriander, chopped
Pinch of ground nutmeg to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1 ¼ cups cooked short-grain rice
¼ cup self-raising flour
1 egg (we ended up adding a second to bind the mixture)
Peanut oil for frying










If like us, you can’t manage to find some deveined prawns, you can do them yourself easily (it can be a bit ick, but think of the end result - it’s totally worth it!). Slide a sharp knife down the back of the shrimp. Remove the vein (it’s the grey bit) with the tip of the knife.














Combine the prawns with garlic, lime zest and juice, ginger, chilli sauce, coconut milk and coriander, gently stirring to coat. Cover and refrigerate until needed.











To make the Kumara Cakes, put the ingredients in a bowl and mix together well. Divide the mixture into 8-10 portions and shape into small cakes. Fry the cakes in a little peanut oil over a medium-high heat, allowing them to thoroughly crisp on one side before turning.














Cook the prawns in a lightly oiled pan until the flesh just whitens. Serve 6-8 prawns on top of each of the Kumara Cakes, with a wedge of lemon on the side.














This recipe serves approximately eight people, but being the growing girls that we are, we instead split it into five very generous servings.

This recipe got an all around thumbs up from the girls, with lots of "oohhs" and "mmmms". The shrimps were delicious and juicy, and the kumara cakes were divine; you could taste each and every individual flavour from the garlic to the coriander, and it all melted together perfectly. This dish is exactly the kind of meal we like; easy, healthy and absolutely declicious! Make sure you give it a try!

Ramarea