Tomato Ketchup Prawns (Sweet and Sour Shrimps) Easy Chinese Cooking | BIG Bites MY

Tomato Ketchup Prawns (Sweet and Sour Shrimps)
This is another childhood favorite. This is also a popular dish during Chinese festivals because shrimps symbolizes laughter and happiness (He-he-ha-ha!) Preparing this dish is so quick and SO EASY LAH! The recipe shown here feeds one, just double up accordingly if you are cooking for more. Just love to drown my rice with the gravy! Yums!

Watch video for step-by-step method of preparation

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Prep time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes Serving: 1 (increase portions accordingly if you are cooking for more)

Ingredients:

• 4 large shrimps
• 1 thumb-sized ginger
• 3 tablespoons tomato ketchup
• 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 5 tablespoons groundnut oil

Method:

1. Peel and julienne ginger
2. Trim the shrimps. Cut along the spine to remove the intestinal track. Rinse shrimps and set aside.
3. Heat up oil over MEDIUM LOW heat. Pat dry shrimps with paper towel to avoid oil splattering. Shallow fry shrimps until it is curls up into the shape of a "C" and turns into an opaque pinky color. This takes about 1-2 minutes because shrimps cook quickly. Remove and set aside.
4. Heat up 1 tablespoon of the oil used for frying the shrimps earlier
5. Add julienned ginger and fry until golden brown over MEDIUM LOW heat. Remove crispy ginger strips and set aside.
6. Add tomato ketchup and water into the shrimps and ginger flavored oil in the pan. Stir to combine.
7. Add soy sauce and sugar. Simmer over MEDIUM LOW heat until sugar dissolves.
8. Taste and flavor to your liking
9. Add shrimps back into the pan. Toss to coat with the sauce and it's ready to be served.
10. Garnish with the crispy ginger and coriander (if you have some)

Notes:

• I like to trim all the small parts off my shrimps so that it's less messy to eat at the table. You may just trim off the long whiskers and keep the rest of the shrimps intact (eyes and legs) if you prefer to have a nicer presentation.
• Shrimps cook in no time at all, so do not walk away when you are shallow frying them. It only takes about a minute or so. Overcooked shrimps is chewy and rubbery. Cooked shrimps curls up into the shape of a "C" and overcooked shrimps curls up into the shape of an "O". So "C" is cooked and "O" is overcooked.
• Ginger: Instead of frying it until it becomes crispy ginger, you can just stir-fry the julienned ginger until it's lightly browned and leave it in the pan. Toss the rest of the sauce in and it's incorporated into the dish itself. It's entirely up to individual preferences.