Oyster Sauce Prawns with Garden Fresh Spring Onions

Food, rich glorious food, always comes to mind whenever any festivals are mentioned! The Chinese believes that every new lunar year must be celebrated with food that are associated with prosperity, good fortune and happiness. Some food are considered taboo or bad luck if consumed within the first 15 days of Chinese New Year, such as fu gua (bitter gourd). Just as the name implies, the melon is bitter and we would not want to start off to a 'bitter' year! Mui Choy (a type of preserved salted vegetable), when translated directly, the name implies "no luck" and we wouldn't want to start off the new year with this either! 

So, every Chinese New Year, in restaurants and even at home, the food that are usually served will be the fatt choy (black moss fungus), meaning 'strike it rich', yee sang (raw fish with shredded vegetables, pomelo and other condiments) meaning prosperity, har (prawns) for liveliness and yee (fish) which must be a whole fish with head and tail intact, meaning that, a good start and a great ending of a lunar year. 

That explained, come and join me in this "liveliness" dish, which is a simple prawn dish marinated with oyster sauce and fried, and stir-fry again with spring onions.

Even tastier with the spring onions from my own garden

I'm sharing this with
Full Plate Thursday at Miz Helen's Country Cottage


Oyster Sauce Prawns with Garden Fresh Spring Onions
600gm medium or big prawns
generous bunch of spring onions, cut to 3" sections
2 tablespoon oyster sauce
pinch of white pepper powder
pinch of salt
2 tablespoon chopped garlic
2 tablespoon chopped ginger
1 tablespoon chopped spring onions, the white part only
2 tablespoon Chinese cooking wine
3 tablespoon water
about 1/3 cup cooking oil

1. Clean prawns, remove legs and devein, but leave shells and heads intact.
2. Cut spring onions to 3" section, reserve about 1 tablespoon of chopped white part only. Lightly crush the rest of the 3" white part using the side of the knife and put aside together with the greens.
3. Marinate prawns with oyster sauce, pinch of white pepper powder, pinch of salt and keep aside for 30 minutes.
4. Heat oil in  saucepan and fry prawns in a single layer on both sides about 2-3 minutes each side until brown and shell turns crispy. Remove and keep aside. Keep marinated juice from the prawn marinade to be used later.
5. In a clean saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon oil. Saute chopped garlic, chopped ginger and chopped spring onions, until fragrant and light brown. Add in retained marinated juice, 2-3 tablespoon of water, stir till it boils and add in the prawns along with the spring onions. Stir for about a minute and add salt if necessary.
6. Add in the Chinese cooking wine, give a quick stir, dish out to a serving plate and serve hot. Enjoy!