Chilli garlic prawns and rice
I did a linguine and garlic prawns a few weeks ago. Tonight, I thought I’d do something with an Asian bent.
Ingredients
- Raw prawns (large banana prawns)
- Tomato sauce
- Soy sauce
- Sweet chilli sauce
- Garlic (sliced with a mandolin)
- Ginger (grated)
- Chilli flakes
- Chilli (cut in strips)
- Spring onion
- White onion
- Whole black peppercorns (freshly ground)
- Rice
- Broccoli florets
Instructions
- Marinate the raw prawns (with the shell on) in a bowl of tomato sauce, sweet chilli sauce, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and chilli flakes.
- Leave the prawns in the marinade in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.
- Cook the rice however you please.
- Heat a wok until it’s smoking hot.
- Add in some high vapour point oil, e.g., Queensland nut oil.
- Fry off some garlic, ginger, spring onions and white onions and then add in the prawns and marinade.
- Cook the prawns by stir-frying them until they turn red.
- Add in the broccoli florets and mix everything until the broccoli florets soften a little.
- Serve in a bowl and eat with the rice using chopsticks.
- Some people will want to eat the prawns by sucking them off and then breaking the head off and sucking its head. The next step is peeling the prawns and eating the chilli-flavoured hot flesh.
- I do it differently; I hold the prawn with my chopsticks and suck the juice off it and then eat the whole prawn, including the shell, head, and legs.
- If I was cooking this for someone else, I would peel the prawns and remove the alimentary canal first because I know most people would prefer it that way.
Final thoughts
How do you eat prawns?
Fresh ginger and garlic 
Chilli Ginger Garlic Marinade 
Raw Large Tiger Prawns 
Raw Large Tiger Prawns in Chilli Ginger Garlic Marinade 
Raw Large Tiger Prawns in Chilli Ginger Garlic Marinade 
Spring onions White onion Chilli 
Stir-frying Garlic, Ginger, Chilli, and Prawns in a wok. 
Stir-fried Garlic, Ginger, Chilli, and Prawns with white rice. 
Stir-fried Garlic, Ginger, Chilli, and Prawns with white rice. 
Stir-fried Garlic, Ginger, Chilli, and Prawns with white rice.
Beautifully done Chinese chill garlic prawns, Gaz. Amazing there was a wok involved, giving it that smoky flavour and aroma. Normally in my Chinese family everyone prefers prawns with head and shell on. It would be a sin if any of us cooked a prawn dish and there was no prawn head 😂
I love prawns, be it fried chilli prawns like the one you chose, or grilled prawns or prawns at a seafood buffet. I’d even count a prawn cracker as a prawn 😄
Thanks, Mabel. I remember as a kid we’d suck the garlic and chilli off the prawn especially the sauce clinging to the legs and then remove the head and suck the sauce out of the head with all the head juices. Then I saw a cousin just eat the whole prawn whole without taking off the head or legs or shell. That’s how I do it now.
The two ways you describe sucking of the prawn is very Chinese 😀 I still haven’t eaten a prawn with the whole head, legs shell and all. Can’t muster it yet. Probably have to start of with a small prawn and build my way up to the fun 😄
Soon you’ll be eating whole giant banana prawns!
Hopefully one day! Whole banana prawns with garlic and chilli sound like a delight 😀
Fresh prawns are just back running at lakes Entrance. The prawn boat was in the harbour on Australia Day selling fresh prawns. I love them just cooked, peeled and with seafood dressing.
Sounds fantastic Heather. When I have really fresh prawns I like them on fresh white bread with real butter.
I loooove prawns 🍤 and this sounds fabulously delicious. I may leave the heads tho…:-)
It was a really nice meal. Next time, I may peel and prepare the prawns more 😊
I’m with Karen. Much prefer my shellfish sans shell. Might go back to when I was in kindergarten, about 5 and a half, when my neighbor brought home shrimp that the neighborhood kids help shell and one youngster on a dare popped a pregnant one in his mouth. The large antennae and legs and grey eggs protruding from between lips were not appealing to my young eyes!
Wish rice was less full of carbs. Recently purchased rice noodles for a dish and almost put them back because of the carbs!!
Thanks, Kris. I was giggling thinking of the legs poking out between my lips 🤣
Photo op?
🤣🤣🤣
laughed out loud.
Your prawns sound and look delicious. I’m one of those who would appreciate if you would peel the prawns and remove the alimentary canal…just call me unadventurous. 😳
For you, Karen, I would prepare prawns the way you prefer 😊
This looks fantastic! There’s this restaurant we really like, but it’s too far to get to right now–and it’s closed to indoor dining, so getting takeout would ruin the taste by the time we’d get it home, but they have this great Caribbean spicy shrimp that I’m trying desperately to recreate in my kitchen. I’ll try your spicy garlic prawns in the meantime. They look very tasty.
Thank you. I hope you like them when you try it 😊
That sauce sounds fantastic Gary! I love eating prawn heads but I like the bodies peeled so that the prawn meat soaks up the sauce.
After I’ve bitten the head off I redip the body in the sauce 😊🤤
Eat the whole thing: waste not, want not.
Plus lots of calcium and roughage.
Yummy for sure! I love the sauce/marinade. Great flavors !
Thank you very much, Mimi. It tasted great.
Yum! I’m very old school with prawns as I love prawn cocktail – homemade mayo, tomato puree, small splash of brandy, dod of Tabasco sauce, and plenty of lettuce to mop it all up.
I love a prawn cocktail Emma 😊
This is a very interesting commentary Gary and these prawns are sure to please. I love the flavour combination and the head of the prawns is definitely the best flavour.
Thank you very much, Merryn 😊
Do you eat the heads Merryn or just keep them on while you cook the prawns?