Bored of pesto pasta? Make this for dinner tonight

We love Dr Rupy Aujla's cookery books - his recipes draw on loads of different cultures, they burst with flavour, colour and health-enhancing ingredients, and they always tick off a decent proportion of your five-a-day. They're also eminently doable even when you have a busy job - like Rupy himself who is a London-based NHS GP,  His latest is Cooks by Dr Rupy Aujla  (£11) and includes such delights as Singaporean chicken rice and spicy halloumi bake. 

So what's for dinner tonight, doctor? "This white bean and prawn saganaki will blow you away," he says. "The sauce is simple to make, but the flavours are intense, sweet and spicy. The caraway and nigella seeds lend an undertone of earthy flavours with the hum of garlic and kick of red chilli to counter. The greens and beans pack this with more vegetables, but the sauce is full of the good stuff too. You can easily make this vegetarian by simply substituting the prawns with more beans that have plenty of protein."

Sold! Let's do it.

Dr Rupy's White Bean Prawn Saganaki

Suitable for gluten free

Serves: 4
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 
• 240g white onion, diced 
• 5 garlic cloves, finely chopped 
• 2 red chillies, finely chopped 
• 2 tsp caraway seeds 
• 2 tsp nigella seeds 
• 2 tsp dried oregano 
• 500g tomatoes, roughly chopped 
• 2 tbsp tomato purée 
• 2 tbsp honey 
• 50g feta, crumbled 
• 200g chard or spinach leaves, roughly chopped 
• 20g basil, roughly chopped (reserve some leaves to garnish) 
• 1 x 400g can giant white beans or butter beans (or any other white bean), drained and rinsed 
• 200g raw jumbo prawns, shelled and deveined 

Method

1. Preheat the grill to high.
2. Heat the oil in a flameproof casserole over a medium heat,
   add the onion and cook for 5 minutes until soft and translucent, then add the garlic, chilli and seasoning and cook for 2 minutes to colour and infuse their flavour.
3. Toss in the caraway and nigella seeds with the oregano and stir into the onions for 1 minute before adding the tomatoes, tomato purée, honey and feta. Cover and cook for 12 minutes until the tomatoes have fully broken down and the feta has melted into the sauce. Add a splash of water if it sticks to the bottom of the pan.
4. Uncover the pan and stir so that all the ingredients combine with the sauce, then add the green leaves and basil, reserving a few basil leaves to garnish, and stir for 2 to 3 minutes or until the greens have wilted.
5. Add the beans to the sauce and place the prawns on top. Simmer for 2 minutes then transfer to the grill for 4 minutes to finish cooking the prawns and caramelise the top of the dish.
6. Garnish with the reserved basil leaves and serve.

For a smoother sauce, blend the chilli, garlic and onion in a small processor before cooking.

For even more flavour, toast the caraway and nigella seeds for 1–2 minutes and crush in a pestle and mortar before adding.

Extracted from Cooks by Dr Rupy Aujla (Ebury Press, £11). Photography by David Loftus