Steamed scallops & tiger prawns with black bean sauce

Name: Steamed scallops & tiger prawns with black bean sauce
Yield: Serves 4 as a starter
Ingredients: 2 tbsp Chinese fermented black beans, soaked in warm water for an hour, then drained; 3 spring onions, thinly sliced; ½ tbsp finely grated root ginger; 1 tbsp groundnut or sunflower oil; 2 garlic cloves, crushed; 1 tbsp rice wine; 1 tbsp light soy sauce; 4 large scallops or 8 medium ones, cleaned in the cupped half-shell; 4 large or 8 medium headless raw tiger prawns, deveined and shelled, leaving the tail on; 1 tbsp chopped coriander; sea salt and freshly ground white pepper; good handful of well-cleaned seaweed (if available)

Preparation info

Serves
4
as a starter

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Fish etc.

By Mark Hix

Published 2004

About

There is something satisfying about serving scallops in their natural state instead of using the shells for ashtrays. Scallops can be a bit tricky to open, especially when really fresh - which, of course, they should be. So I recommend you ask your fishmonger to open them and give them a bit of a clean for you.

Ingredients

4 large or 8 medium headless raw tiger prawns, deveined and shelled, leaving the tail on
4 large scallops or 8 medium ones, cleaned in the cupped half-shell

Method

First make the dressing by mixing all of the ingredients together.
Put a tiger prawn into the shell with each scallop, season with salt and pepper, and steam for 4-5 minutes in a steamer, or you can use a roasting tray containing a couple of centimetres of boiling water and covered with a lid or foil set on the hob.
Serve the shells set on a little seawe