Have you ever tried baked spicy mussels in sushi bars? They use Sriracha infused mayo and garnish the mussels with flying fish roe and sesame seeds. I’m a sucker for these things. And I like the recipe even better with prawns on a half shell. Not your traditional Dynamite prawns, but super delicious and cute looking, too.
- About 20 large or 15 Jumbo headless shell-on prawns
- ½ cup mayo
- 1-2-3-4 tsp or more Sriracha sauce (I take 4 and it’s perfectly spicy for us. If you’re not used to spicy foods, start with 1 tsp and see how it goes.)
- Optional: ¼ heaping tsp hondashi (dashi stock granules) dissolved in 1 tsp water (or take about 1.5 tsp strong dashi stock)
Garnish:
- Sesame seeds
- Green onions or chives
- Tobiko (flying fish roe) or masago (smelt roe)
Start preheating the oven to about 420-425. In a small bowl, stir together mayo, Sriracha and hondashi dissolved in water (or dashi stock).
Lay each prawn flat on a cutting board and with a sharp knife cut in half lengthwise. Remove the vein. With your fingers, pull each prawn half out of its shell without detaching the tail part and then place it back onto the shell. This step will make it easier to eat the prawns.
Put the prawn halves shell side down onto a baking dish or sheet lined with foil. Spread about 1 teaspoon of the Sriracha mayo on each prawn.
Place the oven rack to the second shelf from the top. Put the baking dish with the prawns into the oven and immediately switch it on to broil. Cook the prawns about 1.5-2-3 min or until the mayo layer starts to bubble and turn golden brown.
Take out from the oven and transfer to a serving platter. Top each prawn with about ¼ teaspoon of Tobiko and sprinkle with sesame seeds and onions/chives. Serve right away.
If you want to make this recipe with mussels, get nice, large fresh mussels. Don’t go for that frozen stuff they use in majority of sushi places. They usually use frozen NZ mussels on half shell. Here in Seattle we’re lucky to have great local mussels, so go for them.
Prep them by washing them thoroughly and removing “beards”. Some of them may need some scrubbing with a tough brush as well.
Take a large wide pot and fill it about ½ inch with water. Bring it to a simmer and add the mussels. Cook them covered, shaking the pot often until they start to open. Take out the mussels as the start to pop open. Tear off and discard the upper parts of the shells. Put the mussel halves on a baking sheet and then continue the same as with prawns. When broiling them, you may want to put an oven shelf on a lower position (try the third from the top) because thin mussel shells tend to burn fast.
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