king prawn noodles (黄焖大虾面)

did an almost perfect king prawn noodles (黄焖大虾面) today on 28.9.2014, on the third try (top photo). 🙂

tunglok lobster ramen – 龙虾焖拉面

wife actually said it was better than tunglok’s lobster ramen – 龙虾焖拉面 (above photo).  & the dry wok king prawns better than lobster. i think so also – almost there. sauce was very tasty with no sugar added.

i was very impressed with tunglok’s lobster ramen – 龙虾焖拉面 actually…the 黄焖 golden bisque was always very tasty, smooth & flavourful. it was very similar to & tasty like a good crab roe sharkskin soup. lobster was very good too. for purpose of recreating a dish, lobster is lobster, steamed, grilled or pan-grilled it is not hard to reproduce, so mainly it’s about how to recreate the 黄焖 slight starchy golden bisque.

i tested with egg yoke, mirin, sake, sugar, chicken stock, cornflour, fish sauce. 🙂

braised prawn noodles (黄焖虾面)

braised prawn noodles (黄焖虾面)

my first attempt used small grass prawns & vegetable stock (above 2 photos), whatever was readily available. i had slightly too much starch. i added fish sauce as i thought light soy sauce & oyster sauce might darken the golden colour of sauce.  anyway the sauce was tasty & my daughter liked it, but i could taste the starch – a negative point.

king prawn noodles (黄焖大虾面)

king prawn noodles (黄焖大虾面)

last evening i used the king prawns my wife bought from chinatown. these were very large prawns – 7 prawns/kg so like 140g per prawn. i fried cut chilli padi, ginger strips, & garlic in butter on high heat & added the king prawns & did the dry wok prawn method. it turned out beautifully, with perfect char-grilled flavours & texture. it is true that sometimes giant prawns taste even better than lobster. & they cost a lot less when comparing meat to shell ratio.

i did not have stock so i added sugar & more mirin. also i reduced the flour & added 2 egg yokes. the sauce was still ok tasty. my wife felt that the sweetness was artificial, which i agreed too. also 2 egg yokes did not work well as they separated from the mixture during cooking & did not blend fully. 😦

king prawn noodles (黄焖大虾面)

for lunch today, i had chicken stock, added 1 egg yoke & added light soy sauce & oyster sauce, & yuzu salad sauce & could still produce the golden sauce, this time a really, really tasty bisque. excellent! prawns were perfect as before. 🙂

it was important to record the recipe, as there was a bit of experimentation & varying amount of condiments used. that was the reason i blog anyway, as often i have to refer to my own recipes. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

Ingredients:

• 600g king prawns (i had 4 large prawns 560g, but 300g small grass prawns should do also)
• 500ml chicken stock
• 1 egg yoke
• 2 tbsp cooking sake
• 2 tbsp mirin
• 1 tsp fish sauce (& add sea salt if required to taste)
• 1 tsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp yuzu salad sauce
• 1.5tsp cornflour
• 1 chopped chilli padi
• 1.5cm ginger (julienned)
• 2 tsp chopped garlic

Directions:

1. cooke prawn –  season de-veined prawns (keep in shell) with fish sauce & white pepper.  fry cut chilli padi, ginger strips, & garlic in butter on high heat. add king prawns & chargrilled using the dry wok prawn method to get perfect char-grilled flavours & texture. set aside the cooked prawns.
2. make sauce – add 1 egg yoke, mirin, sake, chicken stock, fish sauce, oyster sauce, cornflour in a mixing bowl & mix thoroughly. fry cut chilli padi, ginger strips, & garlic in olive oil. add the mixture on low fire to boiling. taste the bisque & add salt to taste.
3. cooke noodles – cook noodles (i used white jade 白玉 noodles which had a bit of ramen texture)to just below al dente & pour into a sieve or colander & add ice & cold water to stop the cooking.
4. now put together the dish!