Recipe: Kung Po Prawns (with dried chillies and cashew nuts) 宫保虾

During the CNY period, we will serve prawns quite often, due to its Cantonese name 虾 "ha" sounding like laughter "ha ha ha" and thus symbolising happiness. But mainly because we are a prawn-loving family! When my kids see prawns, they get super excited and they will not be shy to ask for more ("peel more for me please mummy!").

So, we have been cooking kung po style prawns quite a lot lately. Kung po 宫保 is a type of spicy stir-fry dish. It's easy and quick to cook and super delicious! Other than prawns, this also contains other auspicious ingredients such as cashew nuts (the nut's shape symbolises gold ingot of ancient times), spring onion 葱 (symbolises spring) and onions 洋葱 symbolises intelligence 聪明.

This dish tastes super buttery (though no butter is actually used in making it), and I like the slight heat you get from the dried chillies. Pretty surprised that my kids said "not spicy also" and happily devoured 5-6 prawns each.

Kung Po Prawns
Recipe by Baby Sumo
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients
2 onions, cut into wedges
1/2 bulb garlic, finely chopped
3 tbsp cooking oil
20 king prawns, trimmed and cleaned
8 dried chillies, presoaked in water for 30 minutes
1/4 cup toasted cashew nuts
2 stalks spring onions, cut into 1" lengths
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp chicken stock granules


1. In a wok, heat oil over medium high heat. Add garlic and onions, and stir fry for 2-3 minutes, until the onions have softened slightly and the garlic is golden brown. Add the dried chillies and stir fry for another minute.

2. Add king prawns and cook for about 2-3 minutes, until cooked through. If using shelled prawns, it will cook faster so please adjust cooking time accordingly. Season with soy sauce and chicken stock granules, and then stir in toasted cashew nuts and spring onions.

3. Serve immediately, with some sliced cucumber and rice.

Note: I usually roast/toast raw cashew nuts in a 180C oven for 12-15 minutes. If making a small batch, it would be easier to dry-roast in a pan for 5-8 minutes.

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I am submitting this to the "Cook & Celebrate: CNY 2015" event which I am co-hosting with Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Diana of The Domestic Goddess Wannabe. To join, simply cook or bake any Chinese New Year recipes for the whole month of February 2015.

Your post must be a current post i.e. posted in February 2015 - please do not link older posts.Please mention our "Cook & Celebrate: CNY 2015" event in your post and link back to Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Diana of The Domestic Goddess Wannabe and Baby Sumo of Eat your heart out.

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