Name: Levi Roots' hot hot prawn curry recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: Serves: 4
Cuisine: Caribbean
Ingredients: 800g (1lb 12oz) waxy potatoes, such as Desirée, peeled and cut into big chunks; 1tbsp sunflower or ground-nut oil; 1 onion, finely chopped; 1 garlic clove, finely chopped; 6cm (2½in) piece of root ginger, finely chopped; 2tsp all-purpose seasoning; 1 hot red chilli (ideally Scotch bonnet), finely chopped; ½ green pepper, deseeded and cut into thin strips; ½ x 420g can chopped tomatoes; 300g (10½oz) cooked peeled king prawns; Salt; 2tbsp torn fresh coriander leaves, to garnish; Boiled rice and green salad, to serve

By Levi Roots

published 2 October 2019

in Recipes

You can make this thick curry, from Levi's BBC2 programme, Caribbean Food Made Easy, as mild or as hot as you like but it's meant to be hot!

Ingredients

800g (1lb 12oz) waxy potatoes, such as Desirée, peeled and cut into big chunks
1tbsp sunflower or ground-nut oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
6cm (2½in) piece of root ginger, finely chopped
2tsp all-purpose seasoning
1 hot red chilli (ideally Scotch bonnet), finely chopped
½ green pepper, deseeded and cut into thin strips
½ x 420g can chopped tomatoes
300g (10½oz) cooked peeled king prawns
Salt
2tbsp torn fresh coriander leaves, to garnish
Boiled rice and green salad, to serve

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Method

Put the potatoes in a pan of cold water, bring to the boil and simmer for 10 mins, until part cooked. Drain. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a big saucepan and fry the onion, garlic and ginger over a low heat until soft. Stir in the all-purpose seasoning and cook for a couple of minutes.
Add the chilli and as many of its seeds as you dare, along with the pepper. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the part-cooked potatoes and the tomatoes. Simmer until the potatoes are cooked through and the sauce is nice and thick (about 10 mins).
Add the prawns and heat through in the sauce (about 3 mins). Season with salt to taste and garnish with the chopped coriander. Serve with rice and salad.

Top Tip for making Levi Roots' hot hot prawn curry

Depending on your tolerance for heat, either chuck all the chilli seeds, keep half, or be brave and put all of them in the sauce. I go for half the seeds for this dish.

Levi Roots is a Jamaican-born chef and the inventor of the famous homemade BBQ sauce 'Reggae Reggae Sauce' seen in your local supermarket. Levi began his food journey in a tiny little village called Clarendon in Jamaica with his grandmother. He enjoyed helping her in the kitchen and believes she taught him the secrets of how to perfectly mix Caribbean flavours, herbs and spices all together as well as discovering his love for music when attending his grandmothers church. With his parents working in the Brixton, so they could bring their six children over to the UK, Levi finally was the last to move to London in 1970. By 1991, Levi had seven children and lived in Brixton, where he created his famous sauce and decided to create a stall called the 'Rasta'raunt' at Notting Hill Carnival, which combined Jamaican music and the food he was cooking together using his delicious Reggae Reggae sauce. After years of trying to launch the product, Levi was spotted by a researcher from the BBC and was asked to appear on Dragon's Den. Despite trepidation, the sauce was an instant hit to dragons and Levi gave 40% of his business to Dragons Peter Jones and Richard Farleigh for £50,000 investment. By 2007, the sauce had hit the shelves across the country and it is now an essential item in many peoples cupboards. It truly is one of a kind and can be used in many different ways from marinading your chicken with it, to splashing it on top of a delicious rice dish, we've got some of our favourite recipes from the man himself for you to try.