SALTED EGG YOLK PRAWNS
The first time I had salted egg yolk was when I was really young – it was simply steamed and you had it with steamed rice or congee.
A few years ago I went with some friends to a really popular Chinese restaurant and they ordered crab seasoned with salted egg yolk – OMG! It was amazing! The crab was salty & butter from the salted egg yolk. It was soo finger licking delicious. We would scrapped the salted egg yolk coating off all the crab shell just to make sure none of the egg yolk was missed out. We would always go back to the same restaurant.
Here’s my version of this dish but using king prawns – it’s still as moresih and rich tasting.
Salted Egg Yolk Prawns
INGREDIENTS:
- 5 salted egg yolks
- 12 large king prawns (head on optional)
- 1 egg – separate yolk & white
- salt
- ground pepper
- 3 tbsp potato starch
- 1.5 tbsp butter
- 2 cloves garlic – minced
- 2 Birdseye chilli – finely sliced diagonally
- 1 tbsp dried curry leaves (fresh if possible)
- 1 tsp chicken powder (or more to taste)
- 1.5 tsp sugar
- vegetable oil
METHOD:
Steam salted egg yolks for 15 minutes in a shallow bowl or dish. Mash the salted egg yolk after steaming.
Peel shell off the prawns, leaving the head and tail in tact. Use a pair of scissors and trim off the legs and whiskers. Use a sharp knife and make a shallow cut along the back of the prawns, just deep enough to allow you to remove the vein (it’s actually the digestive tract). You can either use your fingers or the tip of your knife to remove the vein.
Place all prepared prawns into a large bowl. Add a little salt, ground pepper and egg white to the prawns and mix well. Add the potato starch, mix again and make sure it covers all the prawns.
Heat up about 4 cm’s of vegetable oil in a wok. Fry the prawns in the wok under a medium to high heat. Make sure you add the prawns one at a time to make sure they do not stick together. You will need to fry the prawns in two batches as it won’t all fit in the wok. Fry the prawns for approx 2 minutes or until they are nearly cooked or turned pinkish red all over. Remove the prawns from the wok using a metal colander and place on a kitchen paper covered plate to remove some of the oil
Carefully remove the hot vegetable oil from the wok and wipe clean and dry the wok with a kitchen paper.
Heat up the wok to a medium heat again and then add the butter. As soon as the butter melts add the mashed salted egg yolk. Stir fry the salted egg yolk till it froths. Use a spatula to keep mixing the salted egg yolk so it cooks evenly. As soon as it gets really frothy add the garlic, chillies, curry leaves & chicken powder and stir fry for about 30 seconds to combine the flavours. Add the raw egg yolk and stir it quickly so it cooks and mixes with all the ingredients in the wok. This shouldn’t take long at all. Add sugar and stir a little so it dissolves. Then chuck in the prawns, stir fry for about a minute – make sure all sauce evenly covers the prawns and serve.
This can be served as a starter for 4 people or be part of dinner for 2 people.
Enjoy
xXx
