Prawns in Sichuan Pepper Sauce

There is nothing quite like cooking prawns in their shells to retain their excellent flavour, and they go very well tossed in a sauce of Sichuan peppercorns. Although most people think of wok cooking as stir-frying, Sichuanese cooks use the wok for many other cooking techniques besides this. Dry-frying is the method used here, called gan pian, in which small pieces of food are stirred vigorously in very little oil until nearly dry.