Quick answer: With seafood, ginger and curry fit well into a marinade or a sauce, combava brings a citrus note to shellfish, and white pepper is kept for light-coloured dishes where a black fleck would show. Pili-pili chilli, on the other hand, lifts a pan of prawns.
Shellfish, crustaceans and prawns take well to several spices in the range, from curry simmered with coconut milk to white pepper in a clear sauce. This page presents these pairings, distinct from those already covered for whole fish on a related page.
Ginger, to mask and to lift
In Chinese cooking, ginger traditionally serves to mask the strong smells of fish, seafood, chicken and mutton. On prawns or scallops, it is added in powder form to a marinade with a little oil, or stirred in at the end of cooking a stir-fry, for a spicy, lightly citrus note that lightens the dish without overpowering the shellfish's flavour.
Curry, in a sauce or a coconut milk broth
Curry is a generic term covering a wide variety of spiced preparations, born in South and Southeast Asia and made of turmeric, coriander, cumin, ginger and pepper depending on the recipe. Several of these preparations include seafood: in Thailand as in South India, a curry paste or powder simmers with onion, garlic and coconut milk before the prawns or shellfish cook briefly in it, so as not to toughen them. Our Madagascar curry is fried in the oil before adding the cooking liquid.
Combava, a citrus note for shellfish
Combava is a condiment widespread in South Asian and Indian Ocean cuisines, where its leaves and zest flavour dishes such as Thai tom yum, a sharp soup often made with prawns. In powder form, it is added at the end of cooking a shellfish dish or mixed into a marinade, for a freshness close to lime, without all of its acidity.
White pepper, for sauces and light-coloured dishes
White pepper comes from the same berries as black pepper, harvested ripe then stripped of their outer skin before drying: it loses some of the strongest aromas and becomes milder in taste. In a white sauce for mussels, a shellfish velouté or a clear bisque, it seasons without leaving visible black flecks in the liquid.
Pili-pili chilli, in a marinade or in the pan
For prawns or king prawns, a crumbled pili-pili chilli livens up an oil marinade or a quick pan-fry. Our recipe for flambéed prawns with pili-pili details one example, which this page does not repeat.
Before or after cooking
Ginger and curry show their full potential when added at the start of preparation, in the oil or the marinade, so their fragrance infuses the whole dish. Combava and white pepper, on the other hand, are best added at the end of cooking or at the table, to keep their freshest notes.
Shellfish, prawns or whole fish
A whole fish or a fillet calls for other pairings, detailed on a related page devoted to spices and fish. This page focuses on shellfish, crustaceans and prawns, whose flesh cooks faster and copes less well with too strong a spice.
Where our spices come from
Our family grows ginger and white pepper in Vangaindrano, in the southeast of Madagascar; our curry is a blend made from spices from the same region. The combava is gathered wild in Vangaindrano, never cultivated by our family.
Frequently asked questions
Which spice should be used for curried prawns?
A Madagascar curry is fried in the oil with the onion and garlic before adding the coconut milk, then the prawns, cooked briefly so as not to toughen them.
Why use white pepper rather than black pepper on shellfish?
White pepper, which is milder, does not leave visible black flecks in a clear sauce or a shellfish velouté, unlike black pepper.
Does combava replace lime on seafood?
It brings a freshness close to lime, but without all of its acidity; the two do not exactly substitute for one another.
When should ginger be added to prawns?
In powder form, it is mixed into a marinade before cooking, or added at the end of cooking a stir-fry, for a spicy note without overpowering the shellfish.
Our products to go further: Ginger Powder · Madagascar Curry · Wild Combava Powder · Madagascar White Pepper · Madagascar Pili-Pili Chilli
The Vanille Désiré team
