Prawn Balichow
It started so innocently. I was hungry,
and ten minutes early for a three o'clock appointment. There was a
parade of local shops. I didn't notice the name over the shopfront.
Spar. Or one of those Supermarket-Lite branches. Tesco Express.
Sainsbury Local. Absolutely whatever in terms of relevance. I just
wanted a sausage roll. Or a cheese sandwich. Or an antelope vindaloo.
Little Shop Of Horrors. Blood sugar dipping, “feed me...NOW!”.
Anyway, it was a Nisa shop. Two shops, actually, knocked through to
join up into one. To the right, standard fare. To the left, Asian
foods.
On the shelves, three varieties (count
'em) of Prawn Balichow.
I thought that stuff had disappeared.
Being prone to that health and safety gone mad clichéd old man way
of thinking at times, I'd assumed that delicious, punchy, salt and
deep seafood flavoured jars of deliciousness had been removed from
the nation's shelves by some sort of directive designed to preserve
our safety, and our health, whatever the cost in lost taste
experience. I don't suppose sun-dried shrimp are high on the H&SE's
desirable food list. I doubt that they're one of those five a day.
I was introduced to Prawn Balichow by
Phil. Jimmy Edward's stunt double.
 |
| Phil. Or Jimmy. Whatever. |
Ex-RAF. Fly fisherman. He'd flown the
sky on a wing and a prayer, and saw the fire service as bit of a
late-life laugh. All too easy. He had a jar of prawn balichow in his
locker, and so I was introduced and ['scuse the fisherman pun]
hooked.
So, now, I'm the proud owner of a jar
of what is now known as Prawn Chutney, but still consists of sun
dried prawns and Unami punch. Despite finding it in a Maidstone
convenience store, which isn't anything like convenient, I now know I
can get it on line. Where the blurb says this:
Free
from Artificial Colors & Flavoring.
Suitable
for Vegans & Vegetarians
Store
in a Cool & Dry Place
Then this:
Onions,
Prawns 26%, Sugar, Water, Refined Sunflower Oil, Salt, Green
Chillies, Chilli Powder, Acetic Acid (E260), Cumin Powder, Split
Mustard, Turmeric Powder
That's great. Nut and gluten free, and
26% prawns but still okay for vegetarian and vegan consumption. You
have to love these Prawn Chutney (was Balichow) guys.
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