Images Pan-Fried Shrimp Corn Cakes

Shrimp Corn Cakes and Tomato Ketchup

Bloom wherever you are planted, and right now my feet is firmly rooted to the kitchen. Hence, the inspiration for this little floral design using shrimp cakes, spring onion and tomato ketchup.

I have been diligent in ensuring that my fridge does not get loaded with leftover cooking ingredients. A spotcheck revealed that it was time to clear off the spring onions which was starting to lose it's shade and some leftover corn kernels which had been sitting there for a week.

With it, I made shrimp corn cakes - a very doable and versatile recipe. It makes for a nice tea treat.

And how did I come about this recipe? I went by blind intuition that surely egg and some flour could stick all the ingredients together!

Ingredients:
- 400g small shrimps
- 1 medium onion (roughly chopped)
- 2 cloves garlic (roughly chopped)

- 2 tbsp sweet corn kernels
- 1 tbsp spring onions (chopped)
- 3 tbsp rice flour
- 1 egg
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- Oil for frying

How-to:
1) Blend shrimp, onion and garlic into thick paste.

2) Add corn kernels, spring onions, rice flour and egg into the blended shrimp paste mixture.

3) Season with salt and pepper. Stir well.

4) Heat oil in cooking pan. Spoon tablespoon-sized paste onto pan. Fry until cooked and browned - takes just a few minutes.

I got 16 pieces out of this portion.

Best eaten with tomato ketchup.

Note: You can double the quantity of corn and spring onions if you prefer or replace it with other ingredients, like chopped boiled carrots or coriander.  

Rice flour, corn, shrimp and an egg

Add spring onions and mix it all together

Fry it

Tadaa..Shrimp Corn Cakes!

Shrimp Corn Cakes on the inside

Images Stir-Fry Butter Cereal Prawns (Instant)

Crispy Crunchy Tasty Yummy Prawns

Who doesn't love big prawns? Most adults love it as much as children - unless they're seafood allergic. :-) One of my all-time favourite prawn dish is the ever popular Butter Cereal Prawns. You can find this usually served as one of the courses for Chinese sit-down course dinners in restaurants.

But, for home-chefs who may not have the luxury time to painstakingly prepare the cereal-mix from scratch, you can get the instant pre-packed cereal mix/seasoning from supermarkets or grocery stores - which is what I had done for this occasion. It cut short half the preparation time and taste just as nice.

Ingredients :
- 10-15 white prawns (sea-caught is better, medium size, approx. 4-5cm in diameter per prawn)
- Curry leaves of about 2 sprigs (you might want to add more if you like it more fragrant)
- 1 or 2 medium size chili (de-seeded and cut into small squares or julienne)
- Butter (a few tablespoons or more upon you're liking)
- Cooking oil
- 1 packet of pre-packed cereal mix


How-to:
1) Heat up wok with a few tablespoons of cooking oil. When oil is hot, add in the prawns and stir-fry evenly until the prawns had turned pinkish-brown and curled up a bit. Remove the prawns immediately as you don't want to overcook it. Set aside. Clear up any oil residue in the wok.

2) Using the same wok, you need not rinse, add in the butter and melt it under medium heat. Once its melted, add in the chili and curry leaves immediately. Stir-fry until its fragrant and add in the prawns.

3) Stir-fry the prawns evenly for a little while, then add add in the cereal pre-mix.

4) Under very low heat, stir the prawns thoroughly until all are covered with the cereal. When the cereal mix had turned crispy after soaking up the excess butter in the wok, dish up the wonderful prawns and serve it hot.

Options :
- I did not de-shell my prawns as I prefer it in its original form for more crispiness. I only snipped off the head's front pointy part where the whiskers are and trimmed the legs.
If you prefer, you may de-shell it but do keep the tails intact - it looks nicer and classier when served, also easier to be finger-picked. :-)
- Instead of normal chili, you may go for a hotter taste by choosing bird's eye chili.
- Instead of stir-frying, you may deep-fry it if you prefer for the ultimate crispy crunch.

Ingredients

Step by Step Stir-Frying