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Cantonese Style Garlic Chili Prawns (Hong Kong Bei Fung Tong Prawns)

Ingredients

  • 4 tbsps garlic minced, divided
  • 2 lbs fresh jumbo prawns head and shell on, deveined
  • 1 cup tapioca flour
  • 1 tbsp fermented black beans
  • 2 green chili peppers or 1 bird's eye chili, sliced
  • 1- inch piece ginger peeled and sliced
  • 1 tsp Chinese cooking wine
  • 2 tsps soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp oyster sauce
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • Canola or vegetable oil for frying

Instructions

  • Heat one inch of oil in a wok or skillet over medium heat.
  • Deep fry three tablespoons of garlic until fragrant and golden brown. Be careful not to burn the garlic. Set aside.
  • Dust prawns lightly with tapioca flour. Deep fry until they turn pink and the crust is golden brown. Remove and set aside.
  • In a wok or skillet, heat one tablespoon of oil over medium heat. Add the remaining tablespoon of garlic, fermented black beans, chili peppers, and ginger slices, and cook for one minute, stirring constantly to prevent burning.
  • Add wine, soy sauce, and oyster sauce, and sugar to the wok, and cook until the sauce is reduced slightly. Add the prawns and stir to coat with sauce.
  • Remove ginger slices and top with fried garlic. Serve immediately.

Notes

**The supermarkets in Chinatown sell fermented black beans in whole and dried. If only fermented black bean sauce is available, then you can use two teaspoons of the sauce and decrease the amount of soy sauce and oyster sauce accordingly.
*Shaoxing wine is a common Chinese cooking wine. Hua Tiao is a high quality one especially good for cooking seafood.
*The cooking time for the prawns depends on the size of the prawns and how hot the oil is; It took me about two minutes. If you are unsure, remove prawns after one minute of deep frying, and cut one in half to see if the prawn is still opaque inside.