Friday, May 15, 2009

Spicy Chilli-Garlic Prawns

It's been more than 5 months, I had a part-time assistant or helper to do some chores at home. What amazed me was she managed to get very good (and cheaper too) some of my favourites from the local fresh market. I bet she's very good at haggling the prices! Frankly, I used to spend a lot buying food from supermarkets, which has little or no choice at all except imported produces which doubled the price (sometimes ridiculously) and such items had short shelf-life by the time they reached their destinations. Since I employed her, my expenditure for food reduced :-) but I still spend some hefty sums for quality wine or cheeses :-(

Few days ago she bought for me some fresh medium Tiger Prawns for only 3.10 € which made me grinned and thinking of ways how to eat these prawns. Btw, that price is for 1 kg and varies from day to day. Sometimes, when it's heavy rain, seafood are slightly more expensive. When the price is good, she would buy some for me to freeze, so that I could cook on other days when she's not working for me. No wonder, some of my neighbors seek her help to buy vegetables and particularly seafood! :-D

For this dish, it's important to know that a very high heat is used to avoid over cooking of seafood yet maintain its succulent and firm shape. Some foodies called it as springy, bouncy or 'QQ' texture that when you bite into these prawns, you can taste the bursting sweetness of fresh prawns and the marinades. You need to practice 'mise en place' if you're going to cook this stir-fry method which worth the effort. Now, let's wok away with this recipe...

Spicy Chilli-Garlic Prawns
Serves 2-3

500 g Large Prawns (like King Prawn or Tiger Prawn)

For the Sauce/Gravy:
50 ml Soy Sauce
30 ml Rice Vinegar
2 tsp Sesame Oil
30 g Tomato Ketchup
2 tsp Raw Sugar
1 tsp Cornflour
Some Water

2 Tbl Cooking Oil (like Corn, Peanut, Palm or Canola)
2 cloves Garlic - minced
1 Tbl Fresh Ginger - minced
1 nos Fresh Red Chilli seeded and minced (you can also use Jalapeño or Bird's Eye Chilli)
1 stalk Spring Onion - sliced thinly

Method:
1. For the Sauce: Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl and stir until sugar and cornflour dissolve.
2. Heat a pan or wok over high heat until you see some smoke coming out. Add 1 Tbl of the cooking oil. Add in the prawns and sear until browned on both sides (about 1 minute or so on both sides). Remove the prawns from the pan. Set aside.
3. With the same pan, turn up the heat on high and add in the rest of the cooking oil. Add in the garlic, ginger, chilli and half of the sliced spring onion. Stir for awhile until fragrant.
4. Add in the sauce mixture and give a quick stir until it starts to bubble.
5. Add the seared prawns and continue to stir-fry until cooked and the sauce thickens slightly. Dish out into a platter and garnish with the remaining sliced spring onion. Serve with hot steamed rice!
Tip: Before start cooking, prepare the other stir-fry ingredients mise en place because you will cook in very high heat and fast. The ingredients for stir-fry have to be within your reach so that the dish not only cooks fast but not over done. This method ensures your seafood stays firm and succulent. If using vegetables, stays crunchy and maintain its color and taste.

Enjoy!


Spicy Chilli-Garlic Prawns on Foodista

40 comments:

  1. Wonderful flavors. We love shrimp, & i am sure my daughter is going to go gaga over this!

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  2. Very tempting flavourful pranws!

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  3. Wow beautiful and delicous with all that flavours.

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  4. Hi Soma ~ I love seafood, a lot (except Geoduck or weird looking species). Living on an island, the opportunity to have seafood (almost everyday) for home cooking, restaurants or road side stalls are very tempting... The word cholesterol doesn't exist in our dictionary LOL!

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  5. Your assistant is a treasure saving money for you. Your recipe sounds delicious and your photograph is excellent.

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  6. Colors, flavors, senses ... beautiful!

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  7. Hi Pigpig... thank you for the compliment. I hope to improve in future.

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  8. Hi Ms Cariso, thank you for visiting. How are you? I'm looking forward to gawk at the food I missed :-D

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  9. Hello Happy Cook - thank you for visiting and compliment. Did you attend the 'CONCOURS REINE ELISABETH' for the Violin?

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  10. Ivy ~ thank you for the compliment :"> I hope to improve one day :-D I was cleaning up my cabinet when I found my spoons with goldfish at the handles and the design was drawn in such away as if the goldfishes were swimming towards the bottom of the sppons- with seaweed and water.

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  11. Hello Kevin... yes I agreed the prawns were yummy. I did asked my helper to buy extra for me :-D I'm thinking of making Tamarind Prawns because I just bought a tub of pasteurised seedless tamarind paste.

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  12. Hi Laura ~ thank you for visiting and the compliment. I think I need to work harder now on the presentations LOL.. thank you for encouragement.

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  13. wow these look delicious!! garlic is always a good thing for me :)

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  14. nice presentation and thanks for the comment on my blog. Interested to know if you used Thai spices in your tamarrilo chutney and if so what they were? I imagine it would give a chutney a more interesting flavour perhaps with lemon grass, ginger, garlic....?

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  15. Wow those look so good! I love the combo of ingredients, and your picture looks amazing!

    Thanks for sharing your recipe!

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  16. Woohoo... Alexandra! Thank you for visiting my kitchen! :-) You'd been beezee haven't you?

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  17. Peasepudding ~ thank you for the compliment :"> For the Tamarillo chutney, I recalled I added in dried chillies, ginger, cloves, black pepper, garlic, vinegar and some odds and ends of pineapple and apple from previous cooking LOL. It turned out quite tasty actually to my surprise. It's delicious with venison.

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  18. Hello Jenn, thank you for visiting and the compliment. It's my first try out but I hope I continue to do so in future. I'm still learning in food photography.

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  19. your spicy prawns look good and huge!! they are calling my name! lol!

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  20. Those could bring a large grin on the face of any seafood lovers. I love it.

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  21. Your food styling is stunning! Too good to go into the stomach. Er...this time is exceptional. Can I try one pls? Hehehe!

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  22. Thanks so much for coming by Raising Chefs Dot Com and commenting on our "Got Sushi" post. Also, I really appreciated the suggestions, now I can order with confidence when we go back for my birthday. Thanks again and I'm surely going to try your fantastic recipe for spicy chilli-garlic prawns at my birthday lunchen! I love spicy too!

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  23. Thought I'd return the favor of your visit.

    Man, am glad I did.
    I'll be pouring through your pages not with out salivating over each and every one!

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  24. food-4tots ~ LOL, I surely will treat you if I'm in your area! We can have 1 kg @ How about that? Thank you for visiting :-)

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  25. Hello Latrice! Thank you for the comment. I hope you will enjoy more Japanese Cuisine. I wished you Happy Birthday first with lots of love and all your dreams come true! Keep me posted ok?

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  26. Kathleen... thank you for visiting :-) I hope you try some of the recipes. I'm now gawking at those picts you took at Yuzen.

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  27. Looks absolutely delicious. Very elegant. Your pictures are fabulous! Excellent cooking instructions too.

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  28. Thanks so much for stopping by my blog and for leaving a comment. Wow, I'm loving what I see here. Can't wait to browse through your recipes. The prawns look fantastic.

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  29. Tks a lot for your kind offer! I will be in your area this coming June. ;)

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  30. Hi KC ~ thank you for encouraging comment!

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  31. Hi Cathy ~ Thank you for visiting me :-) Maybe you can add this recipe to your delicious pizza?

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  32. food-4tots... I love your new home's New Header!!! So cute and really suits your aims. Congratulations!!!!

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  33. I make prawns that way too, it's a godsent :)

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  34. You are soooo much more adventuresome than I with your cooking. Beautiful shots too there! Thanks for dropping by my cooking journal of sorts. Love the story of the camera episodes. Sounds like we can share similar photo stories

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  35. Trish ~ Thank you for visiting me LOL... yes, the adventures of my friend was a story to tell. You know what? Another friend just PM me that one side of her iPod ear plugs dropped into... meatball sauce her mom asked her to stir! Mamma mia!

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  36. This recipe looks amazing! Thank you for sharing this recipe!

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  37. Hi, got your blog from Food-4Tots site and I find your blog and recipes are simply gorgeous! Prawn is one of my all time favourite!

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  38. This is a great recipe & presentation for parties. Thanks for sharing! Well done!

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I really appreciate foodies who took their precious time visiting my blog, leaving encouraging comments and suggestions to help me not only improving my blog but also my skills. Thank you very, very, very much from my heart for your kind attention. Whether you're a professional chefs, enthusiasts, foodies or novice like me, please do leave a comment or two even if you don't speak or write English, I can use translator right? I don't earn any income from comments but I do earned lots of new friends :-D You're welcome anytime to my humble lab :-P

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