Gochugaru Girl has time for a cup of tea, due to a cancelled dental appointment.
Ostensibly, the appointment was not for me but for Junior 3.
I have an immense dislike of last-minute cancellations and re-scheduling of appointments, due to its disruptive nature. Any time gained today has to be paid back on a future date.
However, this is a good opportunity to write up the recipe for some of the dishes we had for our 3-family dinner last Saturday.
The prawns need to be raw and the breadcrumbs need to be of the panko variety, both of which you can easily find in any Oriental supermarket. Panko is Japanese dried breadcrumbs, and the crunchy coating on tonkatsu. This is now so popular that I have seen it used to coat Scotch eggs, Austrian schnitzel and even Italian arancini.
If you have ever ordered this at a restaurants at £1 per prawn, you will know why as soon as you embark on this task. It is labour-intensive and repetitive. The best approach is to put some music on and get a friend or family member to help. It is more fun that way.
We had 13 guests and there were around 90 prawns: 5 – 6 prawns each is a good number if that’s the only canapé you are serving with drinks when your guests arrive. We also had 60 dumplings, which were all finished. If in doubt, always offer more canapés and champagne, to get the evening off to a good start.
There are no precise measurements for this recipe, just the ingredients and method of coating and frying the prawns. Please just make as many as you need to. They can be made ahead of time and reheated in an oven at 180°C/ 350°F for 15 minutes before serving.
For the Prawns:
Very large raw, peeled prawns
Plain flour, seasoned with salt and ground white pepper
Beaten egg
Panko breadcrumbs
Sunflower oil
Sweet chilli sauce, for serving
How to Make:
First clear as much counter space as possible. You will need two trays, one for the uncooked prawns and one (lined with paper towel) for when it has been fried.
Place the prawns in a colander and run cold water over it briefly. Place on paper towels and pat dry gently.
Place the flour, egg and breadcrumbs each in an empty bowl.
Take one prawn by the tail end and thoroughly coat this into the flour.
Next, dip the prawn into the egg, followed by the breadcrumbs.
Place the coated prawn on a tray and continue until all the prawns have been coated.
Heat the oil in a suitably sized pan. You will need around 2 inches/ 5 cm of oil, heated to 180 °C/ 350 °F.
If you do not have a kitchen thermometer, to test if the oil is hot enough, throw a few crumbs into the pot. If it sinks, the oil is too cold, if it turns a dark brown instantly, the oil is too hot. You are aiming for the crumbs to sink briefly, rise to the top, then brown in 20 seconds. I know it’s not science but you will get the hang of it.
Using a pair of chopsticks or tongs, remove the cooked prawns and drain them on the paper-lined tray.
Eat immediately or reheat later, with the sweet chilli sauce.
