About the Recipe
If, like me, you like king prawns as an occasional treat this recipe makes a nice change from the "butter and herbs" or "olive oil and garlic" approach (not that they aren't great too!) I usually make this dish using prepared king prawns which means they are already deveined, thus cutting down on the prep time. If you buy your prawns unprepared, shelling and deveining will add another 10 minutes. Along with your prawns, you'll need some Chinese chilli sauce - Toban Djan（豆板醤） - which you can buy in most supermarkets these days - if you can't find it locally, you can buy it online or at an Asian store. It's quite hot, so a little goes a long way but it stores easily in the fridge.
Ingredients
12 - 14 frozen raw king prawns, peeled & deveined
a little salt
a little pepper
1/2 tbsp potato flour
1 tsp cooking sake or Chinese cooking wine (optional)
1/2 medium onion
1 clove of garlic
1 slice of ginger
For the spicy sauce:
1 tsp toban djan (豆板醤 - Chinese chilli bean sauce)
1 heap tsp soy sauce
1 tsp cooking sake or Chinese cooking wine (optional)
1/2 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tsp potato flour
60ml / 2 fl oz water
1.5 tbsp vegetable oil
5 tbsp frozen peas
Preparation
rinse the king prawns, then season by sprinkling with a little salt and pepper. sprinkle 1/2 tbsp of potato flour & 1 tsp of cooking sake over the prawns in a bowl. mix well before setting aside.
chop the onion, garlic & ginger finely then set that aside too.
next, prepare your spicy sauce. combine the toban djan, soy sauce, cooking sake, sugar, tomato ketchup, 1 tsp of potato flour & water in a bowl and mix well. (you can omit the cooking sake if you prefer)
heat 1 tbsp of vegetable oil in a frying pan. add the onion, garlic & ginger and stir fry for 1 - 2 minutes or until the onion is soft.
add another 1/2 tbsp of vegetable oil to the frying pan. next, add the prawns & peas and stir fry for 2 - 3 minutes or until the prawns are cooked.
now add the spicy sauce to the frying pan. stir fry for another 1 - 2 minutes or until the sauce has thickened.
serve with fresh, steamed bowls of rice.