Ever seen Prawns with crab claws?

Have you seen this before? It looks like a prawn but it has claws like a crab.

In Italy, this is called Scampi, also known as langoustine as shared by my friends on twitter.

Looks interesting doesn’t it? All my life, I’ve been accustomed to eating the Tiger Prawn variety with its small pincers. So when I was in the supermarket and I saw this pack for sale and I was so intrigued that I got it. Moreover, it was on discount. But the problem is, how do I cook it?

I wasn’t in the mood for pasta. As much as I like pasta, eating it everyday, is such a chore. And while Moby suggested Prawn Vadai, which I love to eat, I’ll leave it to the experts at making them.

I was feeling rice-y instead and after seeing Cart make Strawberry Risotto, I thought that I’d give it a try.

Only thing is, I’ve never made risotto before. There were a number of people that said that risotto is difficult to make, and that you needed to stir it constantly and the end product needs to have the “wave effect” when you shake the plate. I’ll give it a try anyway.

And here was my first attempt at Risotto agli Scampi :

First I fried some chopped onion and garlic in some olive oil. After a while I added some rice to infuse the flavours. Here I used Carnaroli which I found in the cupboard. This is a type of Italian rice that is good for risotto because of the the thickness as well the quality of being able to hold its shape after cooking for a long while.

Also, it is more starchy, so the texture will be very different compared to Nasi Goreng or Fried Rice. Below are several other commonly known types rice in Italy.

One cup is good for two people. One if you are very hungry.

At the same time I had some stock mixed with some of the scampi already simmering in another pot

And once the rice was infused, add in a ladle of stock and stir the rice till the water evaporates. Repeat the process till the rice tastes about cooked. This took about 20 minutes or so. Add salt for seasoning.

At this point, I added a bit of tomato sauce and lowered the fire. I forked out the scampi, pulled off the head and peeled it to get at the meat and threw it in the risotto. I added some butter to make it creamier.

And soon my risotto was cooked!

I gave it a try and thought that it wasn’t bad. Next time I make risotto, it’ll be even better!  🙂