Crispy Prawns

"Gate crashed" at this year's National Day Rehearsals. On 3 consecutive Saturdays! Refused to buy tickets, nor book a room at the hotels nearby, so we lugged our boys, neighbors, friends and rough it out on the field at the rehearsals. Boys LOVED it, begging for an encore next year. Pant.

But it was fun. I had a immensely good time myself. There is something magical about sitting unassumingly on the ground in the public with everyone else.

On National Day itself, Aunt Eileen graciously fried a big tray of crispy battered prawns from home and pot-luck to the dinner at my in-law's.

Wow!!! How I love these prawns! It's my next true love after the cows. The crispy batter was fragrant and perfect! Swear I have to make the same at home too.

So I rather shamelessly begged for recipe and viola! Sometimes all you have to do is open your mouth and ASK!

Here's what you'd need

* 150gm self raising flour
* 30gm corn flour
* 230ml water
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 2 tbsp oil (best to use vegetable oil I heard, I used Canola)
* prawns (shelled, deveined, only with tail on, season lightly with s&p)

This is what I did:

1. Mix two flours and salt together.

2. Drizzle oil round the mixing bowl into the floor, and with a ballon whisk, stir it continuously.

3. Add in water slowly next. Continue to stir as you add till a smooth batter resembling milk shake is formed. Make sure there is no pocket of unmixed flour in batter. Batter is almost ribbon-state.

4. In a pot of deep frying oil, heat oil up in medium heat.

5. Drip in one tiny droplet of batter. It will sink to the bottom of the pot. The droplet of batter will float up once the oil is ready for frying. Reduce fire to small.

6. Coat your prawns generously with the batter, deep fry them till golden brown.

7. Dish up and drain off oil. Serve it warm. To heat up, you may do so in the microwave oven for a quick minute.

Psst psst...
* if your oil is too hot, the crust will turn golden brown too soon while the inside crust will appear undercooked. What you want is to deep fry them real slow and steady, to achieve consistent crust throughout. Hence always reduce fire to small once the oil is ready, this serves to maintain the temperature of the oil too.
* the batter can also be used for fish and chips
* I used Tiger Prawns, about 1kg.