This is a recipe for Honey Prawns, old-school Chinese restaurant-style.
Ice cold soda water for one.
Also, cornflour plus flour.
Prevent screen from sleeping
Finally a double-fry, fast becoming the worst-kept cooking secret toless greasyfried foods thatstay crispy for hours!
Honey Prawns that stay crispy for hours!
Honey Prawns are a much-loved favourite at suburban Chinese restaurants and takeaway joints across Australia.
I heartily endorse this solution.
But that aside … can we do better?
Sound too good to be true?
Read on and become a believer in the miracle of Stay-Crispy Honey Prawns!
The ones pictured are 33g whole or 17g peeled, to be exact!
However these days, frozen prawns are actually also pretty good.
Get large frozen peeled prawns, thaw them and pat them dry very well.
Frozen prawns tend to be quite watery when they defrost which will compromise the crispiness!
Honey The primary flavour here.
Yes, this sauce is sweet!
Without it, the honey sauce tastes a bit flat, like its missing something.
Substitute with mirin or if you cant consume alcohol, low-sodium chicken stock/broth.
Soy sauce For some flavour and seasoning.
Most Honey Prawn sauce recipes include water and cornflour/cornstarch for thickening.
Crispy batters and water are not friends!
Give the water a miss.
Miracle stay-crispy fry batter
And heres what you need for the miracle stay-crispy fry batter.
Im just going to cover the basics about each ingredient in this section.
COLD soda water, club soda or seltzer water NOT sparkling mineral water which is naturally carbonated.
Meanwhile cold liquid is key for an ultra-crispy result.
The shock of the cold batter hitting the hot oil = super-crispy batter, virtually immediately.
Cornflour/cornstarch Wheat flour (ie.
plain flour / all-purpose flour) contains gluten which causes crispy batters to soften.
Cornflour is gluten-free, so using this key in of flour in the batter is key for crispiness.
We use mostly cornflour in this batter.
How to make Honey Prawns
This recipe utilises a double-coating method for an extra crispy coating.
We dusting first with cornflour to seal the prawns, then a batter for crispiness!
Preparing the batter
Seasonprawns by tossing with salt.
Batter (cold!)
Made simply by mixing the batter ingredients together.
A key step for ensuring the cooked batter is ultra-crispy is COLD raw batter.
The shock of the cold batter hitting hot oil = crispier prawns.
Batter thickness The above photo shows the thickness of the batter (also see video).
It is quite thin which is intentional.
Contrary to what I expected, a thinner batter stays crispier for longer!
Dip in batter Dip the floured prawn in one at a time into the batter, just before cooking.
Let excess batter drip offby holding the prawns for a few seconds before transferring them to the hot oil.
Double-fry the secret for ultra-crispy!
Fry #1 (3 minutes)Fry the prawns for 3 minutes at 160C/320F until LIGHT golden.
This steps is to cook the batter and prawns.
This is normal and well properly crisp it shortly!
COOL prawns before second fry Another key tip to make crispiness-that-lasts!
Colour is the key indicator here.
If the prawns are not golden enough, then the crispy coating will soften faster as it cools.
They will still be crispy long enough to coat in sauce, serve and eat.
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On the other hand, golden brown prawns will stay crispy for HOURS.
As in, long after they are cold, they are still super-crunchy.
Drain on paper towelsto absorb excess oil.
Now its time to coat in that wickedly good Honey Sauce!
Honey Sauce In reality, we will make the Honey Sauce before we do Fry #2.
Pourthe Honey Sauce over the prawns in a bowl.
Toss quicklyto coat the prawns in the Honey Sauce.
You want to be quick here, not because the prawns will go soggy (they wont!)
but because the honey sauce will thicken as it cools which makes it harder to coat the prawns properly.
Sprinkle with sesame seeds and green onion, if desired.
Take to the table and watch them disappear in seconds!
Here are some suggestions:
Char Siu Pork Chinese BBQ Pork for the second main.
Or try thechicken version!
Astir fryorstir fried noodles.
Some favourites:Cashew Chicken,Honey Pepper Beef,Mongolian Lamb, orChow Mein!
Fried Rice Classic Chinese restaurant-style.Or try the emergencyBaked Fried Rice!
Side salad suggestion Chinese greens with Oyster Sauce,Ginger Smashed Cucumbers, a freshAsian SaladorAsian Slaw.
If you put together your own Chinese restaurant banquet, tell me what you make!
I love getting menu inspiration from readers!
Honey Prawns stays crispy for ages!
Which did he choose?
Anybody who couldnt guess should get their head checked.
