Cantonese Dry Fried Prawns Recipe

Serves/Makes: 6 – 8

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pound fresh or frozen raw prawns (shrimps), in the shell, without heads
• 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
• Peanut or corn oil
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped fine
• 1/2 inch fresh ginger root, peeled and chopped fine
• 2 fresh green chilies, seeded and chopped
• 4 large scallions, cut into small rounds, white and green parts separated
• 1/8 teaspoon potato flour
• 2 tablespoons thin soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon Shaohsing wine or medium-dry sherry
• 1 tablespoon ketchup

How to cook Cantonese Dry Fried Prawns:

• If frozen prawns are used, defrost thoroughly. Wash the shells well and remove the legs. Devein, if preferred, although there is no harm in not doing so. Pat dry with paper towels. Put into a large bowl.
• Sprinkle with the salt and mix well. Let stand for about 20 minutes.
• Prepare the sauce: Mix together the potato flour, soy sauce, sugar, wine or sherry and ketchup.
• Half fill a wok or deep fryer with oil. Heat to a temperature of 350°F (180°C), or until a cube of stale bread browns in 60 seconds. Tip in all the prawns, “to go through the oil” for about 30 seconds, moving them gently with either long bamboo chopsticks or a wooden spoon. Turn off the heat, remove immediately with a large hand strainer and drain on paper towels. The prawns, not pinkish, will be almost cooked.
• Empty all but 2 or 3 tablespoons of oil into another container and keep for future use.
• Reheat the oil in a wok until smoke rises. Add the garlic, stir a couple of times, then the ginger, stir, then the chili, stir, and then the white scallions and stir a few more times. Return the prawns to the wok and spread them out into a single layer, if possible. Lower the heat and saute the prawns for about 30 seconds, letting them absorb the aroma of the garlic and ginger. Turn them over and saute for another 30 seconds, taking care not to burn them.
• Pour the well-stirred sauce over the prawns. As you do so, turn and toss the prawns with a wok scoop or metal spatula until most of the sauce has been absorbed. Add the green scallions, transfer to a warm serving platter and serve immediately.
• To eat, pick up one prawn with a pair of chopsticks, bite into it and shell it with your front teeth while savoring the sauce on the shell. Neatly spit the shell onto a side plate and eat the prawn meat in the normal way. If you want an eaiser way of eating the prawns, I suggest you use your fingers.

This recipe for Cantonese Dry Fried Prawns serves/makes: 6 – 8

Main Ingredient: Shrimp
Preparation Method: Pan Fried/Sauteed
Cuisine: Chinese