During our 2013 trip to Tamil Nadu on the South East coast of India, we had some astonishingly good tandooried prawns in a beautiful hotel we stayed at in Pondicherry called Villa Shanti. The chef, E Saravanan, really knows his stuff, and inspired us to try to recreate one of his dishes when we got home. This is a good version of it (though we haven’t got a tandoor oven); the prawns are fragrant and spicy and wholesome and comforting, while the kedgeree it’s served with is warm and sweet and juicy. The kedgeree can be wrapped in Savoy cabbage leaves, to make sort of Indian dolmades. We've also done peeled lobster tails in this marinade, and it worked beautifully, and we've served it with Basmati Rice Pilaf to great effect too; on the side, we've done some raw sliced baby courgettes with finely chopped dill, which added a lovely zesty green crunch to it

8 huge raw King Prawns, peeled and deveined

200g Swiss chard, or young Savoy cabbage leaves

The 1st marinade:-

1 tspn salt

Juice of a lemon

The 2nd marinade:-

15g Greek yoghurt

½ tspn thyme leaves, chopped

½ tspn ground turmeric

½ tspn hot chilli powder

1 cm piece ginger, very very finely chopped, then mashed to a pulp with the flat of a chopping knife blade

2 fresh green chillies, very very finely chopped, then mashed to a pulp with the flat of a chopping knife blade

1 tbspn vegetable oil

The kedgeree:-

100g small green lentils

½ tspn ground turmeric

¼ tspn ground cumin

1 large onion, very finely chopped

1 cm piece ginger, very very finely chopped, then mashed to a pulp with the flat of a chopping knife blade

2 fresh green chillies, very very finely chopped.

100g basmati rice

1 large tomato, skinned and seeded and chopped

1 dstspn chopped fresh coriander leaves

Juice of a lemon

• Rinse the lentils, put them in a pan with 500mls of water, bring to a boil, and simmer gently, uncovered, for 30 minutes, or until they’re just cooked, and almost all the water has evaporated

• Meanwhile, cook the rice as per this recipe using 180mls of water

• Meanwhile, rinse the prawns, and put them in a bowl. Toss them in the 1st marinade, cover with cling film, and leave to marinate for 20 minutes

• Combine all the 2nd marinade ingredients, pour over the prawns, making sure they’re well coated, and cover in cling film again

• Once the lentils and rice are cooked, heat some coconut or vegetable oil in a medium sized saucepan and add the onion and cumin, and cook till the onions are soft and translucent. Add the ginger and chillies and cook for a couple of minutes, then add the tomatoes and stir gently over a low heat until the toms go soft. Then add the lentils, then gently stir in the rice - you’re trying not to bash the lentils too much, as you don’t want them to break up and go all mushy. Gently stir in most of the coriander leaves and lemon juice, check the seasoning, and set aside

• Turn on your oven, setting it to 220C (200 fan). When it’s up to temperature, put the prawns in a steel baking tray, pour the marinade over them, and set your timer for 6 minutes. When it beeps, set your chard steaming, and set your timer for another 4 minutes

• To serve, make a neat pile of kedgeree on each of four plates (you can use a steel tower as we have in the photo above), pile some chard neatly along side, and place two prawns, and a little of the marinade on each plate. Sprinkle with a little chopped coriander leaves, and serve