Prawns are one of those expensive and yet important stuffs for Chinese New Year. However, only the Cantonese go for prawns because prawn is call ‘har’ in Cantonese and it rhymes with the sound of laughter of hahaha. Meanwhile, do you know that Hokkien in tradition, do not like prawns because of we say ‘siang kah heh anneh’ or ‘like prawns’ when refer to something dead or useless. Because prawns curl up when dead. LOL.
Anyway, people still like to serve prawns during Chinese New Year because they are expensive and rare so it is like a status symbol. Moreover, prawns are delicous so who can deny it, right?
At home, it is best done in simple recipes because prawn is tasty on its own without any special flavourings. Here are some of my previous recipes for prawns which are really easy to do without any fuss :
If your prawns are fresh, a steam with some ginger, Chinese cooking wine and salt will be just fine. However, many homes probably kept the prawns for months already. So this may not be a good idea.
The other easy-peasy way to prepare prawns is to give them a butterfly cut, i.e. cut from the back. Season with a little salt. Pan fry them in a dollop of butter. My husband loves to make it this way. The key is to keep the prawns dry and not leave some goey mess.
People love the prawns for the red colour. Some prawns are redder than others. These are the tiger prawns. It is not that tasty but it is red and is sweet.
Important thing to note before cooking prawns is to smell the fresh ones. If they smell bad, keep those for curries. It is smells of the sea, just plain frying with a bit of salt is good as they are.
Gong Xi Fa Cai!
Please use the search box or the category to hunt for more prawn recipes. I also have another food blog with more recipes.