Prawn Salad

So, here is something for the New Year dinner. Chinese hot prawn salad. I got this from the new cookbook of NORA DAZA called FESTIVE DISHES. One the first cookbooks I got was one by Nora. She is like the Ina Garten of her time. Most of her children are either cooks, food critics or restaurateurs.

I highly recommend the "Galing Galing " cook book. My first cookbook when I got married. It is cheap and all the dishes are doable.

Festivities in the Philippines are not complete without some kind of salad being served. be it macaroni, buko or  fruit)... so here is the hot prawn salad. (something new for the new year eh?)

For this you will need:
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/8 tsp baking powder
1 tsp oil
1/2 kilo prawn or shrimp - shelled and deveined
oil for frying
caramelized walnuts

Sauce:
1/2 cup condensed milk
1/4 cup mayonnaise
3 tsp lemon juice
1/2 cup fruit cocktail

 In a bowl, combine salt,egg, cornstarch, baking soda and oil. Mix to make batter.
Heat 2 cups oil until hot and dip shrimps into batter and deep fry until golden brown. set aside

In another bowl, combine the condensed milk, mayonnaise, lemon juice and fruit cocktail. mix well. Toss the hot shrimp in the sauce. Add walnuts. Serve hot.

The problem with the mixing of the prawns was that the batter kept coming off when you try too hard to mix it. Tastewise, this dish was pretty spot on with what you could get at a chinese restaurant. I think I need to inprove my batter more. I'll update this blog after I do another round of this salad.

addendum: when mixing the batter for the shrimp, it's best to use COLD ICE water