Many Kenyans have a complicated but familiar relationship with seafood. At the coast, we order calamari, octopus, and squid without a second thought, snapping pictures for the gram before the plate even hits the table. But back home in Nairobi or Kisumu, that same confidence evaporates the moment a prawn lands on the kitchen counter. Suddenly the questions pile up: do you peel it first? Why does it look like that? How long is too long on the heat?
Part of the hesitation comes down to perception. Unlike tilapia, which has long cemented itself as a Kenyan household staple from Kisumu to Mombasa, prawns carry an air of occasion — the sort of thing you expect on a restaurant menu, not on a random Tuesday dinner plate alongside rice or chapati. That reputation, it turns out, is entirely undeserved, because prawns are far simpler to cook than most people imagine.
Food creator Hafswa Abdillahi of Haffy Craves is here to prove that. Her Swahili-style crispy garlic prawn recipe is straightforward, loaded with coastal flavour, and delivers the kind of result that leaves you wondering why you ever let prawns sit neglected in the freezer aisle for so long.
To get started, you will need 500g of fresh prawns cleaned and beheaded, 6 cloves of garlic finely minced, some finely minced ginger, 1 tsp of dried oregano, half a teaspoon of black pepper, salt to taste, the juice of one lemon, fresh chopped coriander, and half a cup of cooking oil. Rinse the prawns well and combine them in a bowl with the garlic, ginger, oregano, black pepper, salt, and lemon juice. Let that sit for anywhere between 10 and 30 minutes. On the shell debate, Hafswa has a clear position: “I prefer to cook mine with the shell on because it gives them a nice crispiness, but I remove the heads. Some people peel them completely, while others leave everything on, including the heads.”
When you are ready to cook, heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat and add the marinated prawns. The most important rule at this stage is restraint — keep the temperature at medium to low. “If it is too high, the marinade can burn before the flavours have a chance to develop, and the prawns may end up tough and overcooked,” Hafswa warns. Stir gently and continuously, shallow-frying the prawns for roughly three minutes until they shift to a bright pink and red-orange colour — crispy on the outside, soft and juicy within.
It is worth noting that prawn sizes vary considerably. Beyond the medium-sized ones Hafswa uses here, you will find smaller varieties as well as larger ones sold as queen, king, or jumbo prawns, with jumbo sitting at the top of the scale. The general rule is simple: the bigger the prawn, the more juice you can expect. Cooking time increases slightly with size, so keep an eye on colour and texture rather than watching the clock alone.
Finish the dish with a generous scatter of fresh coriander and serve immediately. French fries make an easy and satisfying pairing — casual enough for a weeknight, impressive enough to put on the table for guests. Prawns have earned their place in the Kenyan home kitchen. All they needed was a little convincing.
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