Quick and Easy Prawns on Toast

If you love seafood, you will love these light, crispy and tasty Prawns on Toast for starter/snack that take minutes to prepare. Not only they are ridiculously easy but make a great impression as elegant starter for any party.

This is my take on a recipe from a very old Chinese cookbook for Dim sum recipes from Cantonese cuisine. ‘Dim sum’ literally means to ‘touch the heart’, whilst the term ‘yum cha’ means to ‘drink tea’. Dim sums were originally prepared by royal chefs to touch the heart of the emperors. Later on their popularity spread to the common tea houses. They are prepared as small bite-sized portions of food, both sweet and sour, served in small steamer baskets or on small plates.

Traditionally Prawns on Toast are made with prawn mince and chestnuts and are deep fried or baked. In my version I use whole prawns for a meatier bite and shallow fry them.

The Prawns on Toast is one of the first Asian recipes I had tried because it used to be my father’s favourite. It has been received with equal enthusiasm by my husband and kids, so the legend of Prawns on Toast happily continues in our family 🙂

8 prawns, shelled, deveined
2 bread slices
1 egg , beaten
2 tablespoons corn flour
1 tablespoon soya sauce
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup oil for shallow frying
1/2 teaspoon salt
Juice of two lemons

1 green chilli pepper
1 red chilli pepper
1 stalk spring onion
1/4 cup white vinegar
A pinch of salt

Gently flatten out prawns with kitchen hammer, without breaking the tails. Marinate prawns in lemon juice and salt for 10 minutes.

Combine egg, corn flour, soy sauce and pepper to make batter.
Remove crusts from bread, cut slices in 4 cubes each.

Brush the egg batter over the slice cubes. Put one prawn on each piece of bread. Brush generously with more egg batter over the prawn.

Heat oil in a nonstick frying pan over medium low heat. Place prawn toasts in the pan, do not over crowd the pan.

First fry toast side down in the pan, when toasts are golden and crisp, gently turn the prawns side down. Let it cook for 2-3 minutes. Serve immediately with chilli dip.

For chilli dip, chop all the ingredients finely, stir into the vinegar with salt.

Serves 2