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Our Chinese New Year recipe continues with today’s special ingredient, prawn or shrimp.  I came upon this prawn recipe from a Chinese cookbook in the bookstore a couple weeks ago (forgot the name), I thought it is easy yet meaningful that best suits this  festive event. The name of the dish is called 如意蝦 , ru yi xia in Chinese, which literally means ones’ wish or  dream will be fulfilled, a symbol of good luck. You can name it Good Luck Prawn or Wine-Seasoned Prawn (or Shrimp) with pandan leaves.  I have substitute the recipe with 8 large tails of shrimps, that make up the lucky number 8 because it has the similar pronunciation for richness,   fa (發) in Chinese. I hope this dish will bring good luck and many wonders  to everyone.

This dish is really simple to be prepared, the main thing is to prepare the special wine with rice wine (上等白米酒) and rose wine (玫瑰露酒) or any wine preferred for taste and seasoning. These fresh shrimps are so good when they have adsorbed the aroma of the wine. Plus, they are wrapped in pandan (screwpine) leaves which give them an extra pandan fragrant.  When the shrimps are cooked, you can see the vibrant color of reddish orange of the shrimps with a touch of shiny gloss surface, wrapped up in green color pandan leaves. I absolutely love the presentation that would definitely make the dinner more interesting.

Previously I have also used pandan leaves in my Black Glutinous Rice Dessert, many people have asked what pandan leaf or screwpine leaf is. Here I’ve showed you in the picture section. You can usually get them in the frozen section of the Asian market in LA. The pandan leaf is widely used in Southeast Asia dishes mainly because it has an aromatic fragrant that blends well with the food. You can also purchase the extracted pandan essence for cooking or even baking cakes and desserts.

Have a try on the recipe and happy Chinese New Year to you.

Ingredients:

8 tails of tiger prawns or large shrimps (trimmed and deveined)
8 pandan leaves or screwpine leaves
8 toothpicks
1 cup rice wine (上等白米酒)
3 tbsp rose wine (玫瑰露酒)

Cooking Method:

1. Trim the head and legs, devein the tiger prawns or shrimps. Rinse them under cold ice water for 5 minutes for a more crunchy texture.
2. Season the prawns or shrimps with rice wine and rose wine for 15 minutes. Remove and drain.
3. Wrap the prawns or shrimps tightly with pandan leaves, use a toothpick to hold in position.
4. Heat up 5 tbsp oil over low hear, fry tiger prawns or shrimps till turn orange pink. Dish up and serve.