Sonal Singh On Sonal's Table
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I think most of you would agree with me when I say that Seafood is the easiest to cook, primarily because it takes very less time to cook. So, it’s a relatively fast and simple way of plating up scrumptious food with packs in loads of flavour.
Take shrimp or prawns for example. I think the hard part is only cleaning them because my recipe for Chili garlic prawns takes just about 12-15 minutes to prepare.
And, trust me…once you have tasted these, you’ll want to prepare them every time you make Chinese food at home. This recipe uses a sweet, spicy and sticky sauce in which the chief component is garlic.
INGREDIENTS
- ½ kg shrimp/prawns (peeled and deveined). If you are using frozen prawns then they need to be thawed completely before use.
- 1 tbsp refined or olive oil
- 5 plump garlic cloves , minced
- 1 inch piece of ginger, chopped fine
- 1 tsp chilli flakes (you can add more as per your palate)
- ½ cup water
- 2 tbsp Sriracha sauce (if you do not have this then use 1 tbsp of chilli sauce + 1tbsp of regular tomato ketchup)
- 1 tsp cornflour
- 2 tbsp soy sauce + 1 tsp for marinating
- 1 tbsp brown sugar (if you don’t have brown sugar then use regular white sugar)
- 1 tsp white sesame seeds
- Chopped green onions with stalks for garnish
- Salt as per taste
METHOD
- After peeling and deveining the prawns, wash them, pat them dry and marinate them for 15 minutes to half hour in 1 tsp of soy sauce.
- In a bowl mix the soy sauce, sriracha sauce, water, brown sugar and cornflour.
- Heat 1 tsp oil in a fry pan and add half the prawns to it. We need to sear them for about 45 seconds on each side. You will know that they are done because they will turn a blushing shade of coral and will curl up their tails. Repeat this process till all prawns are seared.
- Drain the pan of the excess water, dry it and put it back on the stove at medium heat. Add the remaining oil and toss in the ginger and garlic. Mix for about 1 minute till the flavours infuse into the oil. Add the chilli flakes.
- To this add the soy sauce solution. Increase the heat to let the sauce thicken a bit. This may take about 2 minutes. Taste once for seasoning. If need be then add more chilli flakes or some salt. Soy sauce is quite salty so add salt with caution else the dish will turn out too salty.
- After the sauce thickens, tip the prawns into it and let them cook for about 2 minutes. Coat them well with the thick sauce so that all of them are evenly coated.
- Garnish with sesame seeds and green onions.
