Cereal Prawns is definitely one of our ‘tze char’ favourites. It is a quick and simple dish to prepare and everyone including the kids love this dish! You can also replace the prawns with chicken or fish meat or make it a vegetarian version by
Using a scissors, remove all the feelers and the legs and cut off the nose of the prawns but leave the head and all the shells intact. De-veining is optional.
Mix your batter of salt, pepper, eggs, and cornflour into a slurry.
In a wok on high, heat up the butter until melted and slightly bubbly.
Add in your oil to temper the butter, so it won't burn so easily. Add you curry leaves and let them fry until fragrant and the leaves should turn into a darker green.
Toss in your chillies and fry until fragrant.
When ready, add in sugar, and make sure its melted before adding the nestum cereal. At this point, reduce the heat to medium, and slowly stir the cereal to toast. Make sure you stir from the bottom.
When cereal is toasted, reduce the heat to low and load in your prawns, constantly stirring so that the toasted cereal will stick to the moist prawns.
Plate it up!
Notes
Prawns - I don't normally take off the heads or any of the shells nor do I de-vein the prawn. By breaking any of the shell, or exposing the meat after de-vein, makes the cooked prawns, dry and generally less yummy.
Cereal - Unfortunately, you can't substitute to cereal to any other brand. It has to be Nestum for its original taste and texture. Speed - The cooking stage of the cereal, should be fast and quick, while always adjusting the heat on the wok. By leaving it for too long and/or not controlling the heat, the cereal is more likely to burn. Burnt bits contribute a very charred aroma and generally not considered well done.
Versions - While there are other versions with Milk powder included - i find that taste not discernible to the average eater. The milk powder only contributes the sweetness which can be replaced by sugar.
Chillies - I normally use the normal 'big' or Cayenne style peppers for a milder spice - however if you want to ramp up the scoville meter, then by all means use Bird's Eyes for that extra bite.
Butter - If you haven't quite mastered the temperature control of toasting the cereal, you might want to reduce the amount of butter. This will make the toasting process easier, however, less tasty.
Cooking has been a passion of mine since I was young. I would always follow my grandma to the wet markets to buy groceries and watch her whip up amazing dishes. Always inspired by my grandma, I look to continue her journey in the culinary world.
Cooking has been a passion of mine since I was young. I would always follow my grandma to the wet markets to buy groceries and watch her whip up amazing dishes. Always inspired by my grandma, I look to continue her journey in the culinary world.
Cooking has been a passion of mine since I was young. I would always follow my grandma to the wet markets to buy groceries and watch her whip up amazing dishes. Always inspired by my grandma, I look to continue her journey in the culinary world.