How to Cook Cereal Prawns, Kaya and Pisang Goreng
Cereal prawns is one of those dishes that emerged on the Malaysian food scene AFTER I moved to Australia back in 1984, so I never got to try it growing up. That didn’t stop me putting it on my Concord restaurant menu back in the day, however, so I set off to learn the recipe the same way most people in this day and age do – I googled it.
Most recipes online call for oatmeal (seeing that Nestum cereal isn’t that readily available overseas), so that’s what I used. It wasn’t until years later that I found out there’s actually no oats in Nestum, so oatmeal is in fact a lousy substitute for it.
That would explain why my version didn’t crisp up and I had to turn it into a creamy-oatmeal-prawn dish by adding evaporated milk, thus accidentally creating a new dish I named “Jackie M Prawns”. Which was damn popular, I might add.
Cereal Prawns
INGREDIENTS:
300g prawns, peeled, tail intact
1 egg white
3 Tbsps rice flour
Oil for deep-frying
½ cup Nestum cereal
50g butter
2 stalks curry leaves, stalks removed
2 bird’s eye chillies, sliced
2 tsps minced garlic (optional)
1 tsp chicken powder
2 tsps sugar
METHOD:
- Heat oil to 180°C. Toss prawns with egg white, dip in rice flour, then deep-fry for about 30 seconds or until just cooked through.
- Remove and drain.
- Heat butter in saucepan, then add garlic, chillies and curry leaves.
- Saute until garlic is lightly browned.
- Add cereal, chicken powder and sugar and lower heat.
- Add prawns and mix well; cook until cereal is a golden brown colour. Adjust seasoning, remove and serve.
Click here for Kaya recipe >> https://jackiem.com.au/2015/11/11/how-to-make-kaya-toast/
Click here for Pisang Goreng recipe >> https://jackiem.com.au/2016/10/28/make-pisang-goreng-fried-bananas/
