The sauce for these prawns is measured in spoons, not in grams: four of ketchup, two of sugar, four of water, all fried in the oil the shells leave behind. That shell fat is the whole point of searing the prawns hard and keeping the pan, because a clean pan would waste the most flavorful ingredient in the dish.
Chinese · Main
Ketchup Glazed Prawns Fried in Their Own Oil
Whole prawns are seared until the shells turn red and release their fat, then tossed through a sweet ketchup sauce built in that same garlic scented oil.
- Prep20 min
- Cook10 min
- Serves3
- LevelEasy
Ingredients
| 500 g | sea prawns , whiskers and rostrum snipped, deveined through the back |
| 5 cloves | garlic , minced |
| 1 slice | ginger , shredded |
| 1 tsp | cooking wine |
| 1 tsp | white pepper |
| 4 tbsp | ketchup |
| 2 tbsp | sugar |
| 4 tbsp | water |
| salt | to taste |
| vegetable oil | a generous pour for frying |
Method
- Snip off the whiskers and the sharp rostrum, rinse the prawns and cut along the back to remove the vein.
- Rub the prawns with shredded ginger, cooking wine and white pepper and leave them for about 15 minutes.
- Heat a generous amount of oil and fry the prawns until they turn red and slightly charred on both sides. Lift them out.
- Lower the heat and fry the minced garlic in the same oil until fragrant but still pale.
- Stir in the water, sugar, ketchup and salt and cook until the sauce just starts to bubble.
- Return the prawns and toss quickly so every shell is glazed, then plate.
Notes
- Trim the rostrum, the sharp spike on the head; it is the part most likely to scratch a mouth.
- Keep the garlic on low heat; browned garlic turns bitter against the sweet sauce.
- The frying oil is already seasoned, so taste the sauce before adding salt.
Ratios and technique checked against 蜜思小琳 on Douguo (茄汁大虾). The method here is written by Stellaok; the photograph is the source kitchen's, credited on the image above and linked back to the page it came from. No recipe text is reproduced.