Fried Prawn Balls 百花釀蝦球

Fried Prawn Balls 百花釀蝦球 (bái huā niàng xiā qiú) is my spinoff of the fried crab claws that you would usually have at a Cantonese dinner banquet.  I asked my friends to list 5 things that they would order at a Cantonese restaurant for dinner and Fried Crab Claws was one of those things.  However, I couldn't find crab claws at the local supermarkets here in Vancouver. And we are already quite lucky in terms of all the Asian foods available to us here.  So, I decided to use frozen prawns, which I think it’s pretty safe to assume that they are fairly easy to access for most people.

With Chinese New Year coming up, I wanted to make dishes that looked hard to make, but were actually easy. (That’s not really deception, is it?  Nah, people just think it’s hard!) Fried Prawn Balls 百花釀蝦球 is definitely one of them.  That is, if you can also find ready-made shrimp paste or fish paste.  Then, it’s just a matter of cleaning, assembling and frying. It only took about 30 minutes to make and came out looking professional! But most importantly, they were so delicious!  I was going to give some to my nearby friends to try, but I kept eating them.  I couldn’t really give them just two, hahahaha!  When I cook, I don’t usually eat more than one to taste test, but these really were good.

During Chinese New Year, shrimp and prawns are very popular.  They turn a bright red color when cooked.  We, Chinese people, love red during festive times! Things that are deep-fried represent gold.  And balls or spheres represent a perfect completion.  And so these golden balls are perfectly auspicious!  For Cantonese speaking people, prawns also represent being busy.  For hard-working people, being busy is a really good thing since it means getting lots of work and making lots of money.

My Fried Prawn Balls 百花釀蝦球 are so easy to make, it won’t matter if they’re auspicious or not, you’ll want to make them all year round!  This dish would go great with my Easy Steamed Salted Chicken.

If you do deep-frying once in a while, I really recommend getting a digital laser infrared thermometer. It makes it so easy to fry at the right temperature! If you're interested, this is the one I purchased from Amazon:

Fried Prawn Balls 百花釀蝦球

I used ready-made shrimp paste that I bought in the seafood section of an Asian grocery store. You can also use dace paste or any other fish paste for this recipe.

You can also use crab claws or a sturdy fish fillet like cod or basa.

To make the sweet and sour dipping sauce, simply combine 2 tbsp of ketchup, 2 tbsp of rice vinegar, 1 tbsp sugar and 1 tbsp water. Heat in a pan until the sugar dissolves.

Thai chili sauce also works well as a sauce for this dish.

Approximate cost (CAD) $18

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 12 minutes mins

Total Time 32 minutes mins

Course Appetizer, Dinner, Lunch, Main Course, Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine Cantonese, Chinese

Servings 4 Servings

Calories 1707 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 350 g Tiger prawns headless (approx. 20 prawns)
• 300 g Shrimp paste
• 1 Egg
• 1 cup Panko
• 2 tsp Cornstarch
• 600 ml Oil

Instructions

 

• Remove the shell of the prawns, leaving only the tail shell intact
  
• Rinse the prawns
• Butterfly the prawns by making a cut from the back without cutting through to the front
  
• Devein and open the prawns onto a flat surface. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for all the prawns
• Prepare 2 tsp cornstarch in a small bowl
• Beat an egg in a bowl
• Prepare 1 cup of panko in a medium size mixing bowl
• Have your shrimp paste ready for use
  
• Take one prawn and use your finger to rub some cornstarch over the side facing up
  
• Use a small spoon to spread shrimp paste onto the prawn. Use your finger or spoon to pat and shape in onto the prawn.
  
• Repeat steps 9 and 10 for all the prawns
  
• Dip the stuffed prawn into the egg by hold the tail. Try not to get egg on the tail
  
• Put the egg dipped prawn into the panko. Use a spoon to spoon the panko on the whole surface of the prawn except for the tail
  
• Leave the prawn in the panko until you’re ready to deep-fry. Repeat for all the prawns
• Heat 600 ml oil to 150˚C or 300˚F The amount of oil depends on the size of your pot. If you have a smaller pot, then you won’t need as much oil but you may have to fry the prawns in separate batches
• Put the prawns into the oil. Do not overcrowd the pot. By doing so, you will not get the golden color in 3 minutes. Cooking it for longer may lead to over-cooking the prawns
  
• Fry for approx. 3 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oil and let it rest on a cooling rack
  
• Continue frying until all the prawns are fried If you were frying them in batches, after the last batch, you can put the oil up to 175˚C or 350˚F and fry the prawns again to heat them up for 1 minute. This time, you can put more into the pot since they were warm already. This will ensure that all the prawns are nice and hot when you serve them
• Place on serving plate. This dish can be served with sweet and sour sauce, Thai chili sauce or Chinese red vinegar
  
• Serve

Nutrition

Calories: 1707kcalCarbohydrates: 13gProtein: 72gFat: 156gSaturated Fat: 12gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 1006mgSodium: 3261mgPotassium: 143mgFiber: 1gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 217IUCalcium: 381mgIron: 7mg

Keyword Chinese New Year, CNY, Deep Fried, Prawns, Shrimp Paste

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