Szechuan King Prawns

Anything Szechuan is one of my favourite things to order from the Chinese takeaway, although I will admit to not being able to actually pronounce Szechuan. I tend to mumble, under my breath, "sway-zhan" which I'm not sure is anywhere near correct. Perhaps someone can correct me?

Anyhow, "sway-zhan" king prawns is what we had for dinner the other night. They turned out well and were gloriously sticky and gunky which just enough kick from the chilli flakes. (As an aside, the Co-operative does not sell chilli flakes. At all. I mean, it's a bog-standard ingredient isn't it? I ran out and had to do a mercy dash in the village to a friends house...) The only complaint I received was that there wasn't quite enough of them. I have to agree, I was being a bit stingy when I bought the prawns and you definitely need more than I served up, so have adjusted quantities below to rectify this!

This meal was extremely quick to prepare and cook - there's nothing to it!  Recipe below serves 2.

Szechuan King Prawns

Ingredients

300g cooked & peeled king prawns (no tails)

4 tbsp water

2 tbsp tomato ketchup

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 tsp cornflour

1 tsp honey

1/2 tsp crushed chilli flakes

pinch of ground ginger

1 tbsp vegetable oil

4 spring onions, sliced

4 garlic cloves, minced

Method

In a small bowl, whisk together the ingredients that will be your sauce - the water, tomato ketchup, soy sauce, cornflour, honey, chilli flakes and ginger.

Heat the vegetable oil in a large wok or frying pan over a medium hit. Add the sliced spring onions and minced garlic and stir-fry gently for a minute. 

Add the prawns to the pan and toss to coat with the oil. Add the Szechuan sauce to the pan and heat gently until the sauce is thick and bubbling slightly.

Serve immediately with a good helping of freshly cooked white rice.

Chinese style meals are fast becoming one of my favourite things to cook so watch this space, as they'll be more very soon!