Prawn toast with sweet and sour chilli sauce
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- 10 to 30 mins
- Serve
- Serves 4
- Dietary
- Nut-freePregnancy-friendly
Crisp, golden prawn toast with a generous layer of prawn filling and a punchy sweet and sour chilli dipping sauce. This version keeps the prawn layer thick and juicy, with toasted sesame seeds for crunch.
Ingredients
For the sweet and sour chilli sauce
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 80g/3oz sambal oelek
- 100g/3½oz caster sugar
- 100ml/3½fl oz rice wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 2 tsp fish sauce
- 2 tsp cornflour
For the prawn toast
- 500g/1lb 2oz raw prawns, peeled and deveined
- 2 free-range egg yolks
- 1 bunch spring onions, finely sliced
- 6 garlic cloves, crushed to a paste
- 2.5cm/1in piece fresh root ginger, finely grated
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp fish sauce
- 8 slices white bread (such as milk loaf)
- 75g/2½oz white and black sesame seeds
- 1 litre/1¾ pint vegetable or groundnut oil, for deep-frying
- sea salt
- dried laver seaweed or nori powder, to serve (optional)
Method
To make the sauce, heat the vegetable oil in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Add the sambal oelek and cook for 30 seconds.
Stir in the sugar and rice wine vinegar. Cook until the sugar has dissolved.
Add the soy sauce and fish sauce and bring to a simmer.
Mix the cornflour with 2 tablespoons water to form a paste. Stir into the sauce and simmer for 1–2 minutes until slightly thickened. Set aside to cool.
For the prawn toast, roughly chop the prawns, then pulse in a food processor to a coarse paste, or chop finely by hand.
Transfer to a bowl and mix in the egg yolks, spring onions, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil and fish sauce. Season lightly with salt.
Spread the prawn mixture evenly over one side of each slice of bread, about 1cm/½in thick.
Press the prawn-coated side into the sesame seeds to coat evenly.
Heat the oil in a deep, heavy-based saucepan to 170C. (CAUTION: hot oil can be dangerous. Do not leave unattended.)
Carefully lower the bread into the oil, prawn-side down. Fry for 2–3 minutes until golden.
Turn and fry for a further 1–2 minutes until the bread is crisp and the prawn filling is cooked through.
Drain on kitchen paper and sprinkle lightly with salt.
Cut into triangles and serve hot with the dipping sauce and dried laver seaweed, if using.
