steamed prawns with minced garlic

Another dish adapted from Sam Leong's cookbook, which is proving to be very useful for cooking Chinese food. I used gray prawns instead of tiger prawns because apparently gray prawns are better used for steaming with a less "crunchy" texture compared to tiger prawns. I also decided on using medium sized prawns instead of the large ones suggested by the recipe as smaller prawns are supposed to be sweeter, and not to mention, kinder to the pocket. Ha


Steamed Prawns with Minced Garlic (adapted from Sam Leong)

500g fresh(est) prawns - about 20prawns
Small handful of glass vermicelli soaked in water for 30minutes
2 bulbs of garlic, peeled and minced
1 tbsp deep-fried crispy minced garlic
1/2tsp salt
cornstarch mixture = 1/2tsp cornflour dissolved in 2tsp water
cooking oil
1 finely chopped spring onion
1 cup homemade soy sauce*

Buy the freshest prawns you can find in the market and start by preparing the prawns. Trim off 1cm of the head and the legs, leaving the shell and tail on. Cut the prawns in half lengthwise and remove the veins. I find that this can be easily done using a good pair of kitchen scissors. Arrange the prepared prawns on a steaming plate.

Drain the vermicelli and dip into hot water for 10seconds. Drain well and put on the steaming plate with the prawns. Note that this is a good time for creativity as it can affect the aesthetics of the dish.

Combine minced garlic, crispy minced garlic, salt, cornstarch mixture and 2 tbsp of oil, I cut it to 1 tbsp, and pour over the prawns.

Steam for 3-4 minutes, or until prawns are cooked. Garnish with spring onion.
Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a wok and pour over spring onion. I did not do this as who needs the extra oil in their diet?
Do the same with the homemade soy sauce
Serve immediately.

This is an easy dish which is both pleasing to the eye and the stomach. Great for dinner parties as it can be prepared in advanced and steaming can be done when the dinner guests are seated. The prawns turned out to be sweet, succulent and garlicky. Yummilicious

Serves 4

prawns Aglio Olio with asian twist

According to Wkipedia, Aglio olio is a traditional Italian pasta dish that can be made cheaply without seasonal or store-bought ingredients. It is usually spaghetti served with sauce made of sauteed garlic in olive oil.

I love Algio olio as it is easy to make with minimal preparation and cooking time, makes it a good dish to have when you are very hungry, like in the case of lunch today.
Ingredients (serves 2)Spaghetti for 2 / dried pasta of choice
8 large prawns
2 bulbs of garlic
2 chili padi
3 large dried scallops washed & soaked in warm water for 20mins
2-3tsp olive oil
Lemon juice ~1tsp
Freshly grated parmesan cheese

Boil a large pot of water.

While waiting for water to boil, prepare the rest of the ingredients. Peel & crush the garlic, de-seed and roughly slice up the chili, peel and de-vein the prawns, drain and flake the scallop, and not too forget, grate the cheese.

Now that all the "hard work" is out of the way, the water is probably boiling.
Make sure that the water is boiling vigorously, add 1 heaped tsp of salt to it followed by the dried pasta. Give it a good stir. Do NOT add oil to pasta water!

Heat up olive oil in skillet. At medium-low heat, add garlic followed by prawn heads. (the prawn heads and garlic helps give flavor to the olive oil)
When the prawn heads are cooked halfway, turn up the heat & add in the prawns.

At this point, it will be good to give the pasta another good stir.
Stir fly the prawns and remove the cooked prawns.
Add scallop and chili to the skillet.

Check on the pasta which should be cooked to al dente at just about 1-2mins from now. (it helps that the pasta I bought was instant spaghetti which cooks in 8 mins compared to the usual 11-12mins)
Drain the pasta. Do NOT rinse in cold water!
Add the pasta and prawns to the skillet. Squeeze some lemon/lime juice and give the pasta a good stir.
Serve immediately with cheese +/- parsley.

The Aglio Olio I made is full of garlic as I love garlic, especially these which are so soft and sweet. In the really hungry situation, a good alternative to dried scallop is dried shrimps (Hei Bi) as it takes away the need for pre-soaking.