Saturday, February 12, 2011

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!

22 comments:

  1. Wonderful dish!
    And your photos make me want to eat ...
    It is wise to start the new year with healthy foods.
    Have a nice weekend

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  2. Looks very tasty and delicious! We can always do with more shrimp and laughter :)

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  3. What a wonderful recipe. It looks and sounds delicious. I really like this one. I hope you have a great day. Blessings...Mary

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  4. Irresistible recipe, makes me hungry..

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  5. This is my favorite food. It looks delicious. Make me want to eat now. Thank you for your comments in my blog, I loved. Have a nice weekend. Kisses.

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  6. Look delicious I love seafood,! gloria

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  7. Hi Joy,
    Oh this is a beautiful dish so full of flavor. Just look at those beautiful prawns. I saw where you were already getting spring onions from your pots. They look so beautiful. Mine have been in the ground about 2 weeks but are looking good.Thank you so much for bringing this wonderful dish to Full Plate Thursday and please come back!

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  8. I cooked sweet and sour (ketchup-based sauce) shrimps on CNY eve. I'll try your oyster sauce version the next time I cook shrimps!
    On the sweet tart dough, yes, it's the same recipe. Perhaps you can use the leftover dough to make a dessert for someone who has a very sweet tooth. :)

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  9. Your spring onions looks so beautiful, I love being able to use herbs and vegetables right from my garden :) And your pron dish looks so delicious!

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  10. Your prawns look so succulent and delicious! I love this preparation of them!

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  11. Very good information on the what-to-eat and what-not-to-eat during the season... especially the bitter gourd... and the shrimps look so delicious...

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  12. OMG - this looks delicious. I have a bag of prawns in my freezer right now and I'm always looking for new ways to use them. I'm definitely trying this.
    Sue

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  13. Spring onions are now out on the stalls, so I am very tempted to cook this recipe as I absolutely love prawns. It is a delicious and very healthy recipe! DeeBee

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  14. I enjoyed learning more about the new year customs. We certainly don't want a bitter year!

    This looks delicious!

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  15. Love the flavors! It is probably better to remove the shells first leaving the tail on, it infuses a lot more flavor to the shrimp. You can even the shrimp as good stock for cooking.

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  16. Shrimp are delicious at any time of year! These look so good- they're actually one of my favorite sea foods. (And I need all the liveliness I can get!) It's very interesting to learn about traditions from other countries. :)

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  17. Love this simple recipe. I love prawn cooking with the skin still on. Removing the skin before eating it is something like a pleasure for me.

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  18. i also cooked this too during CNY, simple and delicious!! happy valentine's day to you!

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  19. My parents would love these! I'm only just starting to enjoy seafood now that my tastes are maturing a bit. I must admit, prawns are very fresh and light so that's a bonus.

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  20. Hi friends, thank you for visiting. Prawns make a really appetizing meal, it is one of my favourites! Have a lovely day!

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  21. This dish looks so professional cooked, just the one served in a good Chinese restaurant.

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