These delicious prawns sautéed in rum and added to a delicate Tahitian vanilla coconut cream sauce will make you want to buy a (one-way) ticket to French Polynesia! Indeed, vanilla is not only for baking and rum is not only for drinking! I discovered these prawns in Tahitian vanilla sauce during our trip to French Polynesia. We had the meal at one of the local restaurants while visiting the capital city of Papeete. Back then, I had no idea that adding vanilla to savory dishes would be so delicious…actually it never ocurred to me to add vanilla at all to a savory dish. Clearly, I was missing out!
TAHITIAN VANILLA
There are two species of vanilla bean that are cultivated: vanilla planifolia and vanilla tahitensis. Among these species, you can find four main types of vanilla based on origins: Mexican, Madagascar, Tahitian and Ugandan. Each of these types offer a different flavor profile. Tahitian vanilla is by far my favorite type and I basically use it in everything that calls for vanilla. It offers a very distinctive, rich, floral and spicy aroma. Yet it is delicate. However, you will not find Tahitian Vanilla beans easily in grocery stores. In North America, you may find them occasionally at Costco, but for my part, I just order them off from Amazon.
Vanilla bean grades
If you shop for vanilla beans, you have probably seen the grading on the package: grade A or grade B. These gradings refer mainly to the level of moisture each bean contains. Grade A beans have a higher moisture content and thus, infuses faster whereas grade B beans are preferred in extracts or for recipes that require a longer infusion time.
For this recipe, I am using grade A vanilla. However, if you have Grade B on hand, you can add an additional bean in your infusion OR use 1 bean, but lower the heat to have it infuse for longer.
TIPS FOR MAKING THIS RECIPE
Spliting vanilla bean: To maximize the vanilla flavor infusion, you can make a slit to the vanilla bean lengthwise before adding it to the saucepan. Once the infusion is over, do not let those beans go to waste! Scrape as much as possible all the seeds and add them back to the sauce. I also put back the scraped vanilla bean and only discard it at the very end.
Rum: I recommend using gold rum for this recipe as opposed to dark rum. When reduced, dark rum overpowers the shrimp taste as well as the delicacy of the sauce. It is preferred to use dark rum on meats and gold rum on seafood. The rum should also be reduced to about 3 tablespoons, which will take you about 15 minutes. All there will be left is the concentrated rum flavors without its alcohol and these flavors will infuse into the shrimps.
Coconut milk: Full fat coconut milk was used for this recipe. I believe that using coconut cream will be too heavy. In addition, using reduced-fat coconut milk will not thicken your sauce enough.
Sauce reduction: Similarly to reducing rum, to concentrate the flavors of coconut, cream and vanilla, you need to slowly reduce the sauce to half its initial volume on a medium-low heat ssetting. This will take you about 25 minutes.
Storage: You can refrigerate these shrimps in an airtight container for no more than 2 days.
Equipment
- Small saucepan
- Skillet
Ingredients
- 1 TBSP butter
- 1 lb prawns cleaned and deveined
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ¾ cup rum
- 1 Tahitian vanilla bean slit lengthwise
- 1 tsp white sugar
- ¾ cup full fat coconut milk
- ½ cup heavy cream
- Pinch of salt
- Chopped parsley to garnish
Instructions
- In a small saucepan on medium-low heat, add rum, split vanilla bean and sugar. Reduce until only 3 Tablespoons remains in the pan, about 15-20 minutes. Set the reduced rum aside.
- In the same saucepan without the rum, add coconut milk, heavy cream and pinch of salt. Remove the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds. Add them back to the saucepan with the scraped bean and stir. Cook the sauce until it has reduced to half its volume, about ⅔ cup.
- Meanwhile, in a skillet on medium-high heat, melt butter. Add prawns and minced garlic. Halfway through cooking the prawns, add the reduced rum to the skillet. Cook prawns until they become pink in color.
- Add reduced coconut cream sauce to the skillet and mix to coat all the prawns with sauce. Garnish with chopped parsley.
- Serve hot over rice.
Nutrition
* Nutrition disclosures and disclaimer
June 2019: Trip to French Polynesian island Bora Bora. I enjoyed every meal there and of course…the manificient scenery and beach! I was very glad we did this trip as we did not travel for 2 years and a half after…no need to explain why 🙂
