Salted egg sauce is all the rage nowadays and there are many recipes online showing what is essentially the standard Zi Char method of making the sauce. Generally, I find that there are two problems with this method.
1. It is not so easy to make the sauce in the wok a la minute. The Zi Char chefs can do it because they do it every day, but homecooks would find making the sauce in a hot wok is not so easy.
2. The traditional way of making the sauce can sometimes result a very oily sauce because the butter and salted eggs are not well combined and there is nothing worse than having something which is already deep fried that is coated with a broken sauce (when the butter is separated).
So, here is my way of making salted egg prawns at home which is guaranteed to be less oily. The sauce is made by first making a roux and then incorporating the salted eggs yolks. This results in a creamy sauce where you have time to adjust the taste to suit your own preference!
Ingredients
Salted Egg Yolk 4
Curry leaves 2 sprigs (40 leaves)
Chilli padi 1/2 (sliced thin)
Butter 1 Tbsp
Plain flour 1 tsp
Evaporated Milk 3 Tbsp
Chicken stock powder 1-2 tsp
Sugar 1-2 Tbsp
Salt
Prawns 500g (Ang Kar Prawns are ideal for this recipe)
Sauce should be enough for up to 1 kg of prawns.
Note: Buy the best-salted eggs you can find. The good ones are deep orangey red in colour while the bad ones are pale yellow. It does make a big difference to the flavour of the sauce.
Now onto my Creamy Salted Egg Prawn Recipe – ieatishootipost
Method
Melt butter in a saucepan or pot and add curry leaves and chilli padi. Once you can smell the aroma of the curry leaves, add 1 tsp plain flour and combine for half a minute. Add evaporated milk and allow to simmer to form sauce. Add salted eggs and combine. Add more water or evaporated milk to get the consistency of light cream. Add chicken stock powder, sugar and salt and adjust to taste and set aside.
Slice prawn in half from back and devein, leaving the shells on. Soak prawns in 500ml ice cold water with 1 tsp salt for 30mins. This step is optional but it will make the meat more crunchy. Pat dry and set aside. Heat pan, add 1 Tbsp oil and pan fry prawns till the shells are slightly charred. Add the sauce and 1/3 cup of water and allow the prawns to simmer for 1-2 mins. Serve!
NB: This sauce is great for BBQs as well. Just BBQ the prawns and toss in the sauce!
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I tried mine with coconut cream and evaporated milk and it came out rich and delicious.