I was really looking forward to our block party in September. I had a bottle of Pimms in my possession, carefully stashed away with the intention of no imbibing until the big party, some neighbours had Grand Marnier, both left over from our own little shindig. I had visions of a leisurely afternoon event, casually grazing on pot luck and drinking slowly into the evening hours, maybe meeting some new neighbours from the adjoining houses and watching Lilac play with new little friends. Then, I found out that, firstly, it was to be on a Sunday and secondly, it was from 11.30am to 2.30pm. Being from the UK, I somewhat naively assumed that anything with the word party in it was an actual party. OK, no booze, I understood the sentiment but was still disappointed. The time seemed a little restrictive, "back home please everyone, it's over now".
Where I come from, we never, ever did anything as remotely social as this on our street, except maybe for royal weddings or jubilees, (silly traditionalists that we are). The places posh enough to partake in this kind of thing would still have a rowdy element in one corner, maybe local teenagers who'd nicked their mum's sherry or young adult men using any excuse for a drink, can of lager in hand. This probably sounds awful to you and I can certainly see why family friendly is a much better concept, but I still felt extremely deflated as we left, having spoken to no one new and sat, rather pathetically, on our own wondering what to do. I was dying for a drink..
There was food though, lots of it and some really good stuff too. I made a hastily thrown together salad of lentils, scallions and cucumber with a dressing I made up from the tins left in the fridge: coconut milk, lime, peanut sauce. Then, as if that wasn't enough, I sauteed some prawns in butter and threw them on top. The finished dish nestled amongst many other salads, traditional green or Greek, but there were tiny little spring rolls too, stuffed full of shredded cabbage, beansprouts and roast pork, handmade by the lady across the street. Chai tea came in a large canteen from the Indian family, smelling of cinnamon and cloves and there were burgers being flipped constantly by our very own Marilyn. I took a turn on the grill later on, not sure what else to do with myself....
So, it wasn't a party in my traditional sense, but it was fun for the kids nevertheless with the emergency services of the fire department, ambulance and police in force..all those flashing lights and big fire trucks to pose on...and the committee really did do a good job of organising and planning. I just misread the whole vibe. Here's the recipe..
Recipe : Pan fried prawns with coconut peanut lentils
1 tin lentils, drained and thoroughly rinsed
1/2 cucumber, thinly sliced length ways
1 bunch spring onions, (scallions), finely chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, finely sliced
1 small red chili pepper, seeded and finely sliced
a handful of spinach
1/3 cup coconut milk
juice of one lime
1 tbsp Asian style peanut sauce or peanut butter
a dash or two of fish sauce
10 - 15 large, raw prawns
1 tbsp butter
Place the lentils in a bowl with the cucumber, scallions, peppers and spinach and mix together well.
In a separate small bowl, mix together the coconut milk, peanut sauce or butter and lime juice. Taste and season with the salty fish sauce to achieve a nice salty, sweet and tangy dressing. Adjust with a little more lime juice if you like. Set aside.
Heat the oil and butter in a pan over medium heat and fry the prawns until pink and cooked through. Drain on paper towels and then add to the lentil mixture. Pour over the dressing, mix everything together thoroughly, then serve.
You may also like:
Thai prawn cakes
Summer rolls
Lentil salad
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