Stir-fried prawns with chilli and tomato

“During a visit to the Longshan Temple market, in the oldest district of Taipei, I came across a stallholder selling fresh seafood, where you choose what you want and how you want it cooked. Genius! For me, this dish is the flavour of Taipei on a plate: fresh seafood, local sesame oil, fragrant basil and red hot chilli all combine to make a super-quick dinner with loads of flavour.” Ainsley Harriott, Ainsley Harriott’s Street Food

Credit: Ainsley Eats The Streets

• serves

  4

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  5 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 1 kg large green prawns, peeled and deveined, tails intact
• 1½ tbsp cornflour
• 2 tsp sesame oil, plus a little extra for drizzling
• 2½ tbsp mirin or white wine
• 60 ml (¼ cup) soy sauce
• 1½ tbsp sugar
• 60 ml (¼ cup) canola oil
• 6 red Asian shallots (or 1 large red onion), cut into thin wedges
• 2 yellow capsicums (peppers), seeds and membranes removed, cut into thin strips
• 3 red chillies, seeded and quartered
• 3 cm piece ginger, peeled and cut into julienne
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed with the flat side of a large knife
• 1 tomato, halved, seeded and cut into thin strips
• small handful Asian basil leaves
• steamed rice, to serve

Marinating time 10 minutes

Instructions

Place the prawns in a large bowl, dust with the cornflour and drizzle with a little sesame oil, then toss to coat. Set aside for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the sesame oil, mirin, soy sauce and sugar in a small bowl and stir until the sugar dissolves.

Heat half the canola oil in a large wok or frying pan over high heat. When hot, add the prawns and toss for 1-2 minutes or until nearly cooked through. Remove the prawns from the wok and set aside. Add the remaining canola oil, reduce the heat to medium and when nearly smoking, add the shallot, capsicum, chilli, ginger and garlic and toss for 2 minutes or just until fragrant and lightly cooked. Add the soy sauce mixture to the wok and toss to combine well, then add the tomato, basil and prawns and toss for 1 minute or until just heated through. Serve immediately with steamed rice. 

Ainsley Harriott’s Street Food starts Thursday 6 August 2015 at 8.30pm on SBS and finishes 1 October 2015. Visit the Ainsley Harriott’s Street Food program page to catch-up on episodes online, scroll through recipes and read our interview with Ainsley.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.