Prawns with Creamy Habanero Sauce

Spicy and creamy, the perfect addition to slightly sweet grilled prawns. This recipe is really all about the sauce, because grilled prawns are an easy basic, but this sauce takes it to a whole 'nother level!

I had this dish at a local restaurant called The Matador.  I loved it, and wanted to recreate it at home.  When I Googled the recipe, I found a couple that were called Habanero Cream sauce, but they just didn't look right.

What I created was so simple and delicious that we served this with our prawns for an appetizer (as shown) but also had it with our steaks too!  I think this sauce would be fantastic on pasta or as a creamy enchilada sauce too.

I used 3/4 chicken stock and only 1/4 cream to make it a bit healthier.  By adding the corn tortilla's as a thickener, it give it a great taste that lends itself to the chili pepper and also gives it some creamy consistency.

If you are worried that it will be too hot and spicy, you could add the habanero in larger pieces and remove them before you blend the mixture.  I will admit to using two habanero's in my first batch and realizing that it was too hot for even me! So I picked out one pepper before mixing it and it was just right. I figure if you are a spicy wimp then  you are probably not looking at this recipe anyways, right?

So this is what I came up with.

Makes about 2 1/2 cups
Ingredients:

1 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 habanero, chopped (remove seeds)

1 roasted red pepper, chopped (about 1/3 cup)

1 1/2 cup chicken broth

4 corn tortillas, chopped
1/2 cup cream


Rough chop the onions, garlic, roasted red pepper and habanero.  You probably should use some latex gloves, or a a plastic bag on your hands to chop that pepper.  And wash your cutting board and knife right away too!

Over medium heat, saute the onions, garlic and peppers in the olive oil until they soften.

Add the chopped corn tortillas and the chicken stock and bring to a boil, cooking until the tortillas are soft and starting to fall apart, about 5 minutes.

Blend over the highest setting on your blend and process until it is totally smooth.  Add the cream and blend a bit more.  The sauce should be as smooth as possible.

Reheat gently and serve on a plate, topped with grilled prawns.

Oh yeah, so excited about the sauce, I almost forgot to talk about the prawns!

4-5 prawns per person, skewered and brushed with oil.
Grill over medium high heat, serve at once on a plate of warmed sauce.
Top with a little chopped cilantro.