Named after the pro­found peace of mind acquired through a healthy body, Cuba Street’s new­est eat­ery Nir­vana serves nutri­tious but tasty food morn­ing, noon and night.

Vari­ety is said to be the spice of life, and Nir­vana takes this as the inspir­a­tion behind their afford­able dishes, which are influ­enced by glob­al cuisine from North Africa to Asia via Europe. The dishes here are both firm menu favourites.

Spicy prawn fettuccine

Ingredients

• 800g fettuc­cine, cooked al dente
• 25–30 fresh prawns
• 120g Parmes­an cheese
• 120ml cream
• 2 tsp semolina
• Mus­tard leaves to garnish
• 20 basil leaves to garnish

Sauce

• 40ml olive oil
• 5 cloves gar­lic, finely chopped
• 1 red onion, diced
• 800g tinned cherry tomatoes
• 16 basil leaves
• 1 tsp chilli flakes
• 120ml white wine
• 1 tsp oregano
• Salt and pep­per to taste

Method

1. To make the sauce, add the olive oil to a hot saucepan.
2. Add the chopped gar­lic and diced onion, and sauté until soft.
3. Add the tinned toma­toes, fresh basil, chilli flakes, and white wine. Bring to the boil.
4. Sea­son the sauce with oregano, salt and pep­per, and sim­mer for sev­en minutes before remov­ing from the heat.
5. Coat the four largest prawns in semo­lina and deep fry briefly until crisp, and then set aside.
6. Add the cream, remain­ing prawns and Parmes­an to the sauce, before heat­ing through being care­ful not to bring to a boil again.
7. Remove the pan from the heat and then stir the cooked fettuc­cine into the sauce.
8. To serve, place the pasta and sauce in a shal­low bowl then add the crispy prawn, fresh basil and mus­tard leaves to garnish

Serves 4

Nirvana brownie with chocolate sauce

 Ingredients

• 175g but­ter
• 175g good-qual­ity dark chocolate
• 1½ cups caster sugar
• 4 free-range eggs
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• ½ cup plain flour
• ½ cup chocol­ate chips

Sauce

• 10g but­ter
• 30g good-qual­ity dark chocolate
• 15g cocoa powder
• 10ml milk
• 10ml vanilla essence

Method

1. Pre­heat the oven to 175˚C.
2. First make the brownie. Heat the but­ter and chocol­ate in a sauce­pan, stir­ring until com­bined and smooth. Remove from the heat.
3. Beat in the sug­ar and eggs, and then mix in the cocoa powder, flour and chocol­ate chips.
4. Pour into a rect­an­gu­lar tin and bake for 1 hour, then leave cool.
5. To make the sauce, heat the but­ter in a sauce­pan on a low heat with the dark chocolate.
6. Add the cocoa powder and milk, stir­ring to com­bine thoroughly.
7. Add the vanilla essence and briefly bring to the boil.
8. Put aside and refri­ger­ate until required.
9. When you’re ready to indulge, warm the sauce and brownie, and serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Serves 12