Friday, December 18, 2009

Prawns In Tomato Sauce 乾煎蝦碌


This is my favourite dish and happened to be my late father's as well; as a child traveling with him on a day trip to Ipoh,  he would always stopped at a Chinese eating place on our way back to Cameron Highlands and ordered this dish for me. Back home we prefer the local fresh water prawns which have the sweetest and firmest flesh, not unlike those of the scampis. We don't normally have such large prawns due to the budget restrain but since our dear friend H was visiting, I thought we ought to make it a little special. (it was also a small celebration for the 100th post of this blog)
Do leave the shells on as it looks and tastes better this way, just have a finger bowl ready for cleaning your fingers. I have been promised a lobster's tail and I can't wait to cook it the same way! :)
P.S this is a rather dry dish, if you prefer a more saucy dish simple double the sauce ingredients and thicken it with a little corn starch solution.

Serves 4 as part of a Chinese meal;
you'll need;
8 large prawns, veins removed, fried with a little oil til golden brown, set aside
knob of ginger, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 bird chillies, chopped
3 tbs of tomato ketchup
2 tbs of sugar
dash of light soy
dash of Chinese black vinegar
1/2 cup of water
salt and white pepper to taste
3 spring onions, cut into 2.5" length

Have everything nearby while heating up the wok.


Fry chopped garlic, ginger and chillies with a little oil for a minute. Add ketchup, seasonings and water.


When the sauce turns a little syrupy, return the prawns and add the spring onions. Heat through.


Serve as part of a Chinese meal. We had it with stir fried flowering chives and snapper and braised soy pork. Plenty of rice of course!

33 comments:

  1. I love prawns and your recipe seems delightfull with the spices and congratulations for your 100th post

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  2. Looks fantastic! I was going to ask what happened to the sauce haha.

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  3. I have 3 words for this, yum! yum! yum!
    And how sweet is that story? :)

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  4. That looks very, very delicious. Prawns are always my favourite. Would be so good with plain rice. This just makes me hungry.

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  5. Wow, love this dish, one of my favourites too. My children will surely love this, finger licking good and if I can remember, this used to be on the menu for those 10 course dinner, umpteen years ago!

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  6. chapot,
    Thank you, I can eat prawns everyday if only they are a little cheaper :)

    love to eat,
    Thanks, I added that line just in case anyone ask that question haha

    Anu,
    Thanks, It was I wish I can remember the name of the place, it is right next to a man made lake in Tapah.

    Mary,
    Thanks, oh we had a lot of rice with this :)

    Cheah,
    haha i'm sure they still do that :)

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  7. Hey S,
    I made the pork in vinegar last night, Sofia decided it is the best pork dish ever :) The prawns look amazing, lucky you have visitor huh!!

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  8. Hey great photos, I bet they are really tasty too. I love the fresh water prawns too, have you seen them in Melbourne?

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  9. I love love love this!! Oh gal...you make me drool......

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  10. I love prawns!! this looks super yummy and tangy...ooh ..

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  11. Well done on your 100th post and oh my, I am so hungry just looking at these prawns.

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  12. Vijay,
    Sofia doesn't even like pork, I'll need her to tell me that haha. You are very right but we have decided we will work out a way to have prawns more often :)

    KL girl in MELB ,
    Thanks! Yes they are sold frozen in Richmond, a little too expensive if I remember correctly.

    Angie,
    Thanks! thanks! thanks! Haha I already feel like I should cook some soon.

    Sarah,
    Thank you :)

    shaz,
    Thanks you :) me too haha!

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  13. What delicious dish!! And your photos just great. Your blog is too lovely!
    Thanks for your comments on CUT AND DRY.
    Have a wonderful weekend!
    :)

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  14. Thanks so much for following:)
    I'm following, too!

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  15. Wow! That is a sweet story about you and your dad :) This prawn dish is making me very hungry now and I looking forward to the rest of the dishes from this dinner.

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  16. My father cooks this dish very well too, and I haven't seen him for 10 million years.

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  17. Beutiful look, I love it, Congrualtulation

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  18. Betty,
    Thanks! You too :)

    Mary,
    Thanks and I wish I have some leftover too haha.

    Kenny,
    Wow so he is a good cook too? Oh :(

    COLARGOL,
    Thank you so much :)

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  19. Wow..Congrats on the 100th post !!! A great achievement..Thanks for sharing such a great side dish..Looks fabulous :-)

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  20. Along with a little shell makes it crunchy and yummy

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  21. Holy cow does that look good! I always keep the shell on, it kind of steams the shrimp from the inside out.

    Never thought of the finger bowls before - great idea!

    I actually served bbq shrimp in shell at a restaurant one time - after I cleared their plates, I placed finger bowls down - hot water with lemon slices and handed them each a cloth napkin. I walked away, only to look back at them looking at each other, shrugging their shoulders and eating the finger bowl like soup!

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  22. Ooooooh I LOVE prawns, and that one looks absolutely delicious! I am bookmarking this one!!!!Congrats on the 100th post!!

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  23. That looks exactly like one I had on my recent stay at San Fran. Looks like I want to now..!! where do you get prawns that look like that?

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  24. Hi 3HT. This is one of my family favourites as well. We used to order it at reataurants all the time. My mum does a good version too. The new favourite is however buttered prawns.

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  25. Gulmohar ,
    Thank you :) I hope you'll give it a try one day.

    Haddock,
    Yeah my dad loved to do that :)

    biz319,
    Thanks, I think it keeps the prawns really juicy too :)
    Haha that is a really funny story, thans for sharing.

    kothiyavunu ,
    Thank you, it reminds me on how much I loved prawns too.

    Jhonny walker,
    Thanks, glad to ate your way through SF haha.
    Got the prawns from my local fish mongers .

    CW,
    Haha I love buttered prawns too, will share my version soon :)

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  26. 看了我口水直流!好棒呀!

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  27. Mean looking dish! Can't wait for the lobster version :) cheers mate!

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  28. My husband would thought that he had died and gone to heaven with this recipe :-)

    P.S. You asked if you could use dried cranberries for a the cranberry relish. The answer is no. :-(

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  29. 大肥 ,
    謝謝!謝謝!

    fitzboy,
    Thanks! I'm looking forward to that too :)

    Velva,
    Haha have you shown him this? ;)
    Oh that's a shame! :(

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  30. I am going crazy now.. I wish I could pick a few of your dishes and have them with rice for dinner.. I am hungry :(

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  31. mycookinghut ,
    Thank you!
    It will take you no time to make this ;)

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  32. I just tried making this prawn, but replacing the spring onion with celery (because there are half bunch of them in the fridge), it's a wonderful dish, very yummy.

    Will make again with spring onion next time.
    Thanks for sharing this with us.

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  33. Just tried this, as usual, your blog never failed me! Thank you so much for making my housewifery job easier for the past 8 months since i started cookig after my confinement period.

    My boss (hubby) loves my cooking! Thank you!

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