Full question
In the Chowder With Southeast Asian Flavours are the prawns (shrimp) raw or cooked? Why do you use frozen? Can one use fresh instead? I find frozen cooked prawns tough and flavourless.
Our answer
Nigella's Chowder With Asian Flavours (from NIGELLA EXPRESS) contains a mixture of smoked fish and prawns (shrimp). Both of these fish are usually raw and require some cooking before eating, though if you wanted to use cooked prawns then this would be possible. If you think that you will have leftovers to reheat then we suggest using raw prawns, as if you reheat cooked prawns in the soup when you first make it then you should not reheat them for a second time.
Nigella uses frozen prawns for convenience, though it is again possible to use unfrozen raw or cooked prawns. In this case you will need to add the baby sweetcorn on its own at step 3, bring the soup to the boil, then reduce the soup to a simmer. If using fresh (i.e. unfrozen) raw prawns then add the prawns and simmer until they are just cooked though. This should only take a minute or two. If using fresh cooked prawns then add them just before taking the soup off the heat and let it stand for a couple of minutes, so that the prawns just warm through in the heat of the soup.
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