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Deep Fried Prawn Rolls

by | Aug 10, 2010

Deep Fried Prawn Rolls

I went to a ceramic workshop call Doodles last week with Chris and where we both painted two items each. Doodles is a ceramics workshop where you can walk in, choose a pot, whether it’s a plate, bowl or whatever, and you paint it whatever colour(s) you want. I choose a cereal bowl and a small square plate and he choose a photo frame and a rectangle plate.

doodles marchmont

We both had a lot of fun and spent three hours in the workshop. Tomorrow is the day that we can bring our ceramic works back. We both can’t wait to see how’s our work turns out.

doodles marchmont
doodles marchmont

My job has been super tiring since the Fringe and Tattoo festivals started. We’re serving a much larger number of covers and everyone has been really stressed out. So, I decided to make this simple, quick but cheerful snack for one of our dinner dish tonight.

deep fried prawn rolls

This deep fried prawn/shrimp rolls dish is one of the famous street foods in Danshui. Danshui is a very popular tourism spot for Taiwanese people and foreigners so it’s always full of people. Danshui was the place that the Spanish arrived in Taiwan and they also built a castle called Santo Domingo in Danshui. The Spanish were however expelled from Taiwan by the Dutch in 1641 and the Dutch built a new fort on the same site as San Domingo, which is known today as Hongmao Cheng.

But the funny thing is when I told my Dutch and Spanish colleague about this part of history and they don’t know anything about it. And I’m the one who gave them a history lesson for them.  So here is this tasty and super easy Taiwanese deep fried prawn roll recipe for you.

Credit: Most of these photos were taken by Chris at: Chris Radley Photography

 

deep fried prawn rolls
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Deep Fried Prawn Rolls

Course Main Dish
Prep Time 30 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 24 prawn rolls

Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 100 g pork loin including the fat, cut into dices
  • 12 raw prawns
  • 12 cooked prawns cut into small dice (I added the cooked prawns for a different texture)
  • 1 egg white
  • 2 thin slices ginger chop finely
  • 1 spring onion chop finely
  • 1 tbsp potato starch
  • 24 sheets spring roll pastry

Seasonings

  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper powder
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1/2 tsp sugar

Instructions

  1. 1. Use a food processor to process raw prawn and pork loin until the texture turns quite finely without any big chunks.
  2. 2. Add all the ingredients and seasonings but not the cooked prawn into step 1 and use a spatula to mix it evenly.
  3. 3. Put half a tablespoon of prawn filling on the spring roll pastry and follow the procedure photos to roll it.
    how to make deep fried prawn rolls
  4. 4. Roll the pastry towards the opposite direction
    how to make deep fried prawn rolls
  5. 5. Use a little bit of egg wash to close the edge tightly
    how to make deep fried prawn rolls
  6. 6. Heat up some oil to deep fry the prawn. Oil temperature should be 160C. It’s ready to serve when the prawn roll turns into a pretty golden colour.

 

Dragon Phoenix Leg

by | Jul 27, 2010

Dragon Phoenix Leg

dragon phoenix leg

My mother asked me yesterday “What are you going to cook for your blog this time?” I answered her “Dragon Phoenix Leg”. She immediately told me with a surprised voice “Ohh….That’s a great snack that I ate from childhood.

Dragon phoenix leg is a very important and unforgettable night market food for a lot of Taiwanese people.  It originates from those small fishing village around north coast of Taiwan. A long time ago, Taiwan was a very poor country but while one chicken only has two legs most families had more than two children, it’s never enough for children to eat. So, parents used a little bit of fish and pork with some vegetable to make this dragon phoenix leg snack for children. This dish looks a bit like a drumstick and so we entitled it Dragon Phoenix Leg.

The other story about dragon phoenix leg is back in the old times when Taiwanese parents tried to make their children eat carrot and cabbage they would entice them with chicken by making this dish.

No matter what’s the real story for this dragon phoenix leg. We can find out this dish is full of the love from parents who make or created this dish.

I changed the recipe a little so there’s no cabbage as Chris absolutely loathes cabbage so I used spring green in the filling. Spring green is also a kind of cabbage but tastes lest cabbage than normal cabbage of course.

These photos were taken by Chris at Chris Radley Photography

pig's caul

 

dragon phoenix leg
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Dragon Phoenix Leg

Course Main Dish
Prep Time 50 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 10 dragon phoenix legs

Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 220 g cod fillet or any kind of white meat fish
  • 25 g potato starch or corn flour
  • 70 g ice water
  • 1 tsp ginger chop finely
  • 60 g spring onion chop finely
  • 150 g pork belly mince it
  • 150 g pork loin mince it
  • 1/2 tsp garlic chop finely
  • 100 g carrots grate
  • 60 g spring greens shred finely
  • 1/2 onion chop finely
  • Some flour
  • Some pig's caul

Seasonings

  • 1.5 tbsp caster sugar
  • 1/4 tsp white pepper powder
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 3 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1/4 tsp Chinese five spice powder

Seasonings for Vegetables

  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil

Instructions

  1. Cut the cod fillet into small dices and use a food processor to process the fish until you can’t see any lumps in the fish.
  2. Add ice water, caster sugar and potato starch to a small bowl and mix them evenly with no lump. Mix it with fish from step 1.
  3. Wash your hands first and start to throw the fish mixture into a bowl around 20-30 times until the fish mixture gains some viscidity.
  4. Marinade vegetable with seasonings for vegetable for 30 minutes. After, use your hand to squeeze the water out of vegetable.
  5. Mix all the ingredients and seasonings together evenly.
  6. Use pig’s caul to wrap the mixture and place on a stick. Make the shape look like a drum stick.
  7. Coat the dragon phoenix leg with flour. Heat up 3 cups of oil with full gas power to deep fry it. Once you put 2 or 3 dragon phoenix legs into the oil turn off the gas immediately. Turn the gas back on to lowest temperature after 1 minute. (This ensures the inside of this dish is cooked but the outside remains a pretty colour.) Keep deep frying it at the lowest gas power for 3~5 minutes until it is cooked from inside to out.

 

Coffin Bread Recipe

by | Apr 4, 2010

Coffin Bread Recipe

Coffin bread is a night market snack that originates from Tainan which is a city located in the South of Taiwan. Coffin bread gets it’s name due to the way we cut out the bread and create a lid, making it look like a coffin with a lid.

The great thing about coffin bread is you can put pretty much anything you want inside of it. For this particular recipe I decided to go for a seafood mix covered with cheese but you can also eat a sweet version of this which is shown elsewhere on this blog.

There’s not really a lot else you can write about this dish but it looks unique, is fun to make and is extremely delicious. Easily one of my favourite night market dishes from Taiwan.

Hope you like this.

coffin bread

 

 

coffin bread
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Coffin Bread

Course Main Dish
Prep Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 2 people

Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 1 small tin loaf bread uncut
  • 2 tbsp peas
  • 2 tbsp carrot dice same sizes as the peas
  • 80 g prawns
  • 100 g mixed seafood available in most supermarkets
  • 1 small onion chopped finely
  • 10 g cheese grated

Seasonings

  • 1.5 tsp salt
  • 1.5 tbsp butter
  • 2 tbsp plain flour
  • 1 pinch white pepper powder
  • 1 cup milk

Instructions

  1. Cook carrot and peas in a small pot of water until soft and leave it on aside.
  2. Heat up a sauce pan and melt butter, sauté onion until it softens and add flour into it. Mix even then sauté it with really low heat for 20~30 seconds, make sure it is mixed properly.
  3. Added a small quantity of milk once and gently use whisk to whisk the flour and milk together until no lump inside of it.
  4. Add seafood, carrot and pea to step 3 above. Mix evenly and keep stir it in case the sauce will burn on the bottom.
  5. After seafood is cooked just leave it aside. Heat up 3 cups of oil into a deep sauce pan by middle gas power and the oil temperature reach 120c.
  6. Cut the bread into 5cm thick and square shape then we deep fry it in the oil until it turn to nice golden brown colour.
  7. Use a small knife to cut the lit out and dig out all bread inside of it but keep the bottom and don’t dig it through.
  8. Fill the bread with the seafood and milk sauce we made and sprinkle the cheese on the top, Grill it until the cheese melt then it’s ready to serve.