Prawn Stir Fry

I’m jumping ahead a little here as the next dish after chicken stock was going to be Minestrone. It’s a great dish for practising knife skills, chopping veg etc and of course creating a simple and delicious soup with that sensational chicken stock. However, I’ve made Minestrone about 500 times in the last month and I’m sick of it. I’ll add this recipe with the different techniques involved soon. So next on the list is…

Prawn Stir Fry

Why did I choose this dish so early on for this cookery course? Well, it’s incredibly straightforward but gives you a chance to experiment with flavours and a few easy techniques. I wasn’t really sure which type of Prawn Stir Fry to use so I’ve plumped for a simplified version of a Thai dish called Mii Grop. It’s basically a sweet & sour style dish which can you make mild or ultra-hot depending on your tastes. This is a standard lunchtime dish for me, along with Gong Bao chicken, Phad Thai noodles, Chicken noodle soup and Chicken with Holy Basil – perhaps I should be less surprised at my every expanding gut. 

Ingredients: 

Cooked noodles (you can use any kind – the full version of Mii Grop uses rice vermicelli noodles deep fried. I used plain old wheat noodles. I reckon it would be pretty good with fresh rice noodles too)

16 uncooked prawns 

200g fresh tofu cut into sticks (see picture below)

5 cloves garlic sliced

1 onion sliced 

1 red pepper sliced

3 spring onions sliced diagonally into “ears”

handful fresh coriander roughly chopped

For the sauce: 

2 tablespoons fish sauce

2 tablespoons chicken stock

1 tablespoon plum sauce

1 tablespoon sweet chilli sauce 

Method

1. Fill the bottom of a wok to a depth of around 1 inch. Heat on a medium heat and deep fry the tofu sticks until golden brown and crispy. Drain on a paper towel.

2. Pour most of the oil away leaving around a tablespoon.

3. On a medium heat, fry the garlic and onions and then add the prawns until they are coloured all over

4. Add the sauce and turn the heat up until the sauce bubbles and thickens slightly. Add the thinly sliced pepper and tofu and cook through for a minute or so.

5. Remove from the heat and add the spring onions and coriander

6. Serve with noodles or rice