• Clean the prawns, remove the head and wash off any gunk. Leave the shells and tails intact.
  24 large prawns
• In a pestle and mortar, first crush the black peppercorns to a coarse grind. Place in a bowl with the chilli flakes.
  1 tsp black peppercorns, 1 tsp crushed red chilli flakes
• Place the salt and sichuan peppercorns in the pestle and mortar and crush, this will give your dish all the flavours of these peppercorns without any unpleasant tingling that you can get from whole ones. Add to the chilli flakes and black pepper and mix thoroughly.
  1 tsp salt, 1 tsp sichuan peppercorns
• Sprinkle this dry mix all over the prawns, followed with the lime juice.
  juice of 1 lime
• Mix thoroughly, making sure the prawns are coated completely. Leave to marinate for anything from 10 to 30 minutes. Because of the lime juice, we don't want to marinate it for too long as the acid from the lime juice will cook the prawn meat, resulting in a too soft, cottony texture when cooked.
• Cook on barbecue or under grill for 2-3 minutes on either side.

Stove top

• Heat a griddle or frying pan on fairly high heat until smoking, with just a little oil. Add the prawns, making sure not to overcrowd. Cook for 2-3 minutes on either side until nicely charred. Your house will be smoking at this point - you've been warned!
• They can be served as pictured, on a bed of salad or straight off the barbie.