This recipe serves two for a dinner meal. Preparation time is 15 minutes, and it will take around 30 minutes to cook. Ingredients include a tablespoon of vegetable oil, a dozen large king prawns, one sliced onion, three roughly chopped tomatoes, one roughly chopped red chilli, two lemongrass stalks, a litre of chicken stock, two tablespoons of fish sauce, a teaspoon of caster sugar, one finely sliced small onion, two sliced spring onions, a handful of bean sprouts, eight halved cherry tomatoes, one sliced red chilli, the juice of one lime (and another lime for garnishing), fresh coriander leaves and chilli oil for garnishing.
Start with the broth. Warm the pot and introduce the oil. Put in the prawn heads, shells, sliced onion and chopped tomatoes and fry them on medium heat for about three minutes. Then, add the chilli, lemongrass and chicken stock. Boil before reducing heat and let it gently boil for around 20 minutes. Shift the liquid by passing through a sieve into a different pot once it is off the heat.
Move the sieved broth back on heat and put in the fish sauce, sugar and finely sliced onion. Once it starts boiling, add the king prawns that have been peeled and let these cook for roughly two minutes till they turn pink. Next, add the chopped spring onions, bean sprouts, cherry tomatoes and the sliced red chilli. Stir this mixture for about two extra minutes and then remove the pot from the heat.
Add in the lime juice and check if the seasoning is up to your taste. Serve in bowls and use some more chopped spring onion and red chilli as garnish along with fresh coriander leaves. Add some chilli oil as well as a wedge of lime to complete the dish.