Fried Prawns and Tang Hoon

A quick dinner for the work week. Just need to plan such that you have really good prawns.


Its a simple recipe inspired by the dish sometimes seen in Thai restaurants. The original is sometimes done with crab, and comes with loads of pepper and coriander. JK does not like pepper or coriander much, so some modification was needed. The really difficult part about this dish, getting it just perfect, is the timing and heat control. I like the prawns charred but just cooked and the tang hoon moist but not overdone. Let's try!

We need, of course, prawns and tang hoon, or bean vermicelli.

The prawns are from my regular fish monger at Yew Tee Wet Market. These were $12 to the kg and really nice. (Thank goodness Sheng Siong did not convert the place to some sad air-con mart!)

Prawns were trimmed a little, and that's it. I marinated them a bit with Chinese (Shaoxing) wine. fish sauce, pepper.

I fired up my trusty cast iron wok..... its the best thing ever, and in its 6+ years with me, has never been washed with soap (and thus retains the essence of past recipes ha ha). In go the prawns into a rather hot (almost smoking) wok.

In goes some whole garlic cloves. The prawns are starting to char a little, which is good.

In the meantime, chopping up some saw tooth coriander

Here we are.

I cooked the prawns till they are just red, and a little charred, but would still be a little raw within. High heat is needed for this.

Pushed the prawns aside a little and threw the parboiled tang hoon onto the hot wok to acquire the "wok hei".

The prawns are moved onto the top of the vermicelli and I poured in some stock with a touch of dark soya. I then covered the wok for like 2 or 3 minutes. This way, the prawns cook fully and every bit of delicious juice from the prawns flavor the vermicelli. Waste not the good stuff.

When I uncovered....

The prawns then had to be taken out first so that I could give the vermicelli a good stir.

And here is the vermicelli. Garlic was discarded.

And dinner is served. Takes about 15 minutes from start to finish.

It was a pretty luxurious weeknight dinner as we cracked the Moet and Chandon to celebrate JK's birthday. The prawns were soooo good, and the vermicelli was very flavorful.  Getting the texture and doneness of the vermicelli just prefect is still a challenge. This attempt did not quite do it.