Golden fried prawns

Creamy rich, cooked salted duck egg yolks are available from Asian grocers. If you can’t get them, leave them out.

This recipe is by Chef Jeff Wu, who has been in New Zealand promoting Taiwan (how better than through food), and I have adapted it for the Kiwi kitchen. It's a classic and easy to make. Some of the ingredients might not be familiar, but I found them easily at my local Chinese shop (with the help of a few Google pages on my phone shown to the helpful staff — people are always interested in you when you are interested in their food). Read more from Ray on Taiwan and it's recipes.

Ingredients

½ tsp	Ground white pepper
1 Tbsp	Shao Xing Chinese rice cooking wine
½ tsp	Salt
50 g	Cornflour
1	Egg white, lightly beaten
16 large	Raw prawns, peeled (Main)
2 cups	Panko breadcrumbs
1 drizzle	Vegetable oil, for shallow frying
2 Tbsp	Sesame oil
5	Egg yolks, cooked, and salted, from 5 Chinese salted duck eggs which have been peeled, yolks separated from whites
1	Garlic clove, thinly sliced
1 piece	Ginger, 2cm, peeled and thinly sliced
1	Red chilli, thinly sliced
2	Spring onions, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp	Fried shallots

Directions

1. Put the pepper, wine, salt, sugar, cornflour and egg white in a large bowl and mix well. Add the prawns and mix well. Reserve 20 minutes.
2. Remove the prawns and put each into the breadcrumbs and pat gently so the crumbs stick to the prawns.
3. Heat 1.5cm of vegetable oil in a wok and fry the prawns until golden and cooked. Remove the prawns and reserve.
4. Pour the oil from the wok and add the sesame oil. Place over moderate heat and add the egg yolks and stir-fry 3 minutes, breaking them up as you do. Add the garlic, ginger, chilli, spring onions and shallots. Stir-fry another 2 minutes.
5. Add the prawns, mix gently but well and serve.

More of Ray's Taiwanese recipes

• Taiwanese stir-fried chicken
• Braised beef noodle soup