Prawns in Longjing tea
- Preparation and cooking time
- Prep:
- Cook:
- Easy
- Serves 2
Ingredients
- 1 egg white
- 50g potato flour or cornflour
- ground white pepper, to taste
- 8 large tiger prawns, shells off, deveined, rinsed and drained
- groundnut oil, for frying
For the Longjing tea ‘stock’
- 1 tbsp Longjing tea leaves (also known as ‘Dragon Well’ tea)
- 1 tbsp groundnut oil
- 2 spring onions, whites only, sliced
- 1 tbsp shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
- 1 tsp cornflour mixed with 2 tsp cold water
Method
- STEP 1
Put the egg white in a bowl with the potato or cornflour. Whisk together to a fine batter. Season with sea salt and ground white pepper and mix. Add the prawns and coat well.
- STEP 2
Heat a wok or saucepan just less than half-full with groundnut oil, heat to 180C checking with a cooking thermometer. Lower the prawns into the oil using a spider strainer and fry for less than 10 seconds. Scoop out and drain on a plate lined with kitchen paper.
- STEP 3
Boil the kettle, place 1 tbsp Longjing tea in a bowl and pour over 150ml hot water. Let it steep for 2 mins.
- STEP 4
Add 1 tbsp oil to another wok or deep frying pan and put over a high heat until the oil is slight smoking. Add the prawns and 50ml of the tea, followed by the spring onions, shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, add a few tea leaf pieces and season with salt and ground white pepper, then stir in the cornflour mixture to thicken. Add a little more tea or water if you need to. Take off the heat and serve immediately with cooked jasmine rice and other Chinese dishes.
