I first ate these prawns/shrimp in the Cooking School of the Oriental Hotel in Bangkok, and since then I have written about them several times and talked a great deal. At the School, the prawns/shrimp were small and very fresh, cooked in their shells, so we ate them, shell and all, as an appetizer.

Here I use medium-sized prawns/shrimp, more mature and as likely as not frozen, therefore with tough shells. These should be removed in the kitchen to save messing about at table. Allow f