Prawns with Squash & Coconut Cream Soup

This soup has all my favorite things... coconut, prawns, lemongrass, a hint of chili and the color orange. Serve it in a blue and white bowl, sprinkle with green scallions and you have a wonderfully sunny dish. The original recipe called for canned coconut cream and frozen prawns. Canned coconut cream is good, but freshly made is much better. I bought freshly grated coconut (called niyog) and fresh prawns in the market. I used the grated coconut to make the coconut cream called for in the recipe and saved the prawn shells for the soup. Much of the prawn flavor is in those shells, especially the heads, so I highly recommend using fresh prawns if they are available in your area.

Prawns with Squash & Coconut Cream Soup

1-2 tablespoons virgin coconut oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
4 scallions, chopped (white part only, reserve green for garnish)
2 small red chilis
1 stalk lemongrass, cut into 3-inch pieces (discard tough upper green part)
1/2 teaspoon Thai shrimp paste
2 vegetable stock cubes
2 cups boiling water
500 grams squash, cubed
3/4 cup coconut cream
250 grams prawns, shelled, deveined and butterflied (reserve shells and head)

1. Heat oil in pan, add garlic, scallions, chilis, lemongrass and shrimp paste. cook, stirring frequently, until scallions are soft.
   
2. Add squash and stir thoroughly. Add stock cubes and water, bring to a boil, simmer covered for 10 minutes. Discard lemongrass and chilis, puree soup in a blender until smooth. Pour back into pan and stir in coconut cream and prawn shells. Simmer for 5 minutes, pressing on the heads and shells.
   
3. Strain soup, pressing on the shells to extract all the juices. Pour back into pan and discard prawn shells. Add prawns to the soup and heat gently until prawns are cooked. Serve sprinkled with chopped green scallions. Serves 4 as a first course.