Now that we’ve got the basics on stir frying prawns (see earlier blog), I thought I’d just tweak the ingredients a bit and make a completely different dish.
And since I forgot to take photos of my shrimps defrosting, I decided to cook shrimp again tonight, encouraged by Ted enjoying the easy stir fry last night. And while I was at it, I thought I’d do something to show that you can also plate a dish in such a way that a simple stir-fry can be served to your dinner guests.
To make it presentable for a banquet, I decided to add a crown of broccoli florets to surround the prawns. I selected a clear sauce so it gives contrast to the broccoli. I could have put some carrots in it but skipped it. Carrots can be cut into decorative shapes and added.
These prawns are cooked exactly the same way as the Basic Recipe for Stir Fry Prawns in Ginger Garlic Sauce. I varied it just by changing the sauce–canned chicken stock, no soy sauce– that goes into the prawns at the last minute of cooking.
Because I wanted to make sure I had enough of a sauce for the broccoli to to be seasoned by it, I made and added the thickening sauce separately from the chicken stock. This way, I can see if there is enough sauce, and adjust, when cooking the prawns. This process is called da heen in Cantonese, a technique used all the time to thicken sauce or glaze meat or vegetable.
When chicken stock sauce in bubbling, add thickening sauce a little at a time, and stop once it reaches the consistency you want. If you put all the thickening sauce in at once, you may end up with a really thick sauce. If that happens, just add more water or chicken stock to thin it out.
Serves 6
Preparation time: 15 minutes (not counting defrosting)
Cooking time: 15 minutes
¾ pound medium size prawns, peeled and de-veined, with tail on
1½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 small head broccoli, cut into neat florets
1 tablespoon salt
3 tablespoons oil
2 cloves garlic, finely julienned
½ tablespoon finely sliced ginger
3 stalks spring onions, cut in 1 inch strips
Seasoning sauce
¾ cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons sake, Shaoxing or rice wine
1 teaspoon salt
Thickening sauce
2 teaspoons cornstarch
4 teaspoons water
Leave frozen prawns in colander to defrost and drain. When prawns soften, sprinkle with salt and toss lightly. Set aside to continue draining until ready to fry. Just before frying, sprinkle cornstarch over prawns and toss to dry and coat prawns well.
In a bowl, make seasoning sauce by combining chicken stock, wine and salt. In a separate bowl mix cornstarch with water. Set aside.
In a wok, or frying pan, bring 2-3 quarts water to boil. Add salt and broccoli and blanch vegetable until just tender, about 3-4 minutes. Do not overcook. Drain. In a large round plate, place cooked broccoli around the rim of platter. Set aside.
Heat the frying pan. Add half the oil and coat the pan. When oil is heated, add prawns and fry prawns on one side on medium high heat, shaking pan occasionally to slide prawns over hot surface. Fry until prawns firm up, curl and change to a pinkish color on bottom side. Flip prawns over to fry other side. Do not brown. When prawns change color on second side, transfer to separate dish and set aside.
Add the rest of oil, heat and then add garlic and ginger, and fry until garlic softens. Return prawns to pan. Fry 10-20 seconds to mix with aromatics until prawns are perfectly cooked. Test one prawn by quickly cutting it in half to check it is opaque right through. Immediately add seasoning sauce and spring onion and stir well. When sauce in boiling, add cornstarch thickening a little at a time. Stir quickly until sauce thickens.
Remove from heat and carefully spoon prawns and sauce into center of plated broccoli.
