Butterfly Prawns

Name: Butterfly Prawns
Yield: Serves 2
Cuisine: Japan
Ingredients: lemon wedges, to serve; 24 small broccoli florets, blanched; vegetable oil, for deep-frying – you will need about 250 ml (9 fl oz); 1 egg, beaten; ½ teaspoon salt; 12 uncooked (green) king prawns; 12 pieces of bacon – each about 1 × 5 cm (½ × 2 inches); 4 tablespoons plain flour; hoisin sauce, to serve; 4 tablespoons lager or water; 2 tablespoons seasoned cornflour

Preparation info

Serves
2

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Floyd on Oz

By Keith Floyd

Published 1991

About

This delightful dish has its origins in Japanese cooking. And this method of quickly frying delicate pieces of fish or vegetables in a light batter is known as Tempura. It can be quite fiddly to prepare, but it does look extremely attractive. If you want to simplify it slightly, leave out the broccoli.

Ingredients

4 tablespoons plain flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 egg

Asia
Japan
Fish course

Method

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl, add the egg and lager or water and whisk together to make a batter.

Shell the prawns and cut them through the centre lengthways, being careful to keep the tail intact. Remove the back vein from the prawns, then wrap one strip of bacon round the tail end, using a cocktail stick to secure it. Taking two broccoli flore