Mum's Deep Fried Prawns Recipe

Thanks for texting me the recipe on Whatsapp, Mum!

We don't eat a lot of fried food growing up. Mainly because Mum has always been quite health conscious with the family's diet so we avoid oily food. In fact, I remember the times when Dad used to take my Sis and I to KFC when we were younger and bring a box of tissue with him. Why? To squeeze the chicken of excess oil as much as he can before using the spoon to scrape the fats from the skin. At the time, it was so weird as kids to see that and I remember how we would plead to Dad to stop. But, hey. Mum and Dad knows best huh?

But Mum and Dad are human too and we do have our fried food fix from time to time. On special occasions (especially during Chinese New Year dinners), Mum would make our favourite deep fried prawn fritters. Seriously one of my favourite childhood dishes.

Mum's prawn fritters are the best. She always uses the best and biggest prawns (often very expensive but hey, it's a special occasion) and what I love most is the batter she uses. Mum's batter is so flavourful, sticks to the prawn really well and has a great crunch and crispy edges. Plus, I love her generous addition of sesame seeds in the batter too. It's SO delicious. Sometimes, I don't like beer battered recipes as I find that it is too hollow around the meat from being too airy (not necessary).

Mum's secret to flavour and crunch? BUTTER. She finds that it makes the batter fragrant and also makes the batter light. At the same time, making the batter slightly thicker than usual helps it stick and creates a better crunch too.

Anyway, I asked Mum for the recipe via Whatsapp when I was hosting dinner for my relatives at my place 2 weekends ago. It turned out as good as Mum's and I'm so grateful for this recipe. Obviously, you can make this with anything else you'd like to batter but I just love fried prawns and I hope you give this a go too =)

Also made Mum's Sour Plum Duck (酸梅鸭) for dinner that evening =)

Seriously delish and you can find the recipe: here

A big plate of fried prawns... YIPPEE

Mum's Deep Fried Prawns

Ingredients:

1kg of large prawns (king or tiger prawns)

150g (or 1 cup) self raising flour

50g butter

3/4 cup water

2 tbsp sesame seeds (preferably toasted)

1 1/2 tbsp sugar

Oil for frying

Method:

1. Remove all the head and shell from the prawns, leaving the shell for the tail only.

2. Place the flour and butter in the a bowl. Press the butter into the flour with a fork until all broken up into tiny pieces and mixed thoroughly with the flour. Almost like making butter crumble mixture.

3. Whisk in the water, sesame seeds and sugar into the flour mixture until well combined. You should get a thick consistency. Leave aside to stand for 15 minutes.

4. Heat up oil in a large wok or pot until very hot. Add a small drop of the batter into the oil. If it starts bubbling immediately, the oil is ready.

5. Hold the prawns by the tail and coat it with the batter. Drop into the oil. Fry a few prawns at a time (depending on how big your wok/pot is) until golden on both sides. 

6. Once prawns are fried and golden, remove to rest on a plate lined with kitchen towel. Repeat in batches until all prawns are fried. Serve hot.