A tasty fakeaway dinner idea with golden, crunchy prawns and a honey, garlic & soy sauce.

You may know by now that I am a real lover of Chinese food. The smell of a steaming hot, spicy Chinese takeaway is just something else. But as I have said before, finding the perfect local Chinese takeaway isn’t always easy, and so I like to give some “fakeaway” dinner dishes a go myself. (It’s also a little friendlier on my bank balance too. Check out my other recipes including my 30 Minute Chicken Chow Mein or my Crispy Chilli Beef recipe)

A few years back, Dan and I temporarily relocated to Pershore whilst we anxiously waited for our new build house to be completed, and as such we were able to try out a number of new eateries but one included an old family favourite of Dan’s – a Chinese takeaway. It rapidly became our Friday night go to for a few months (no judgements please) and there was one dish in particular we just loved.

I wish I could tell you the actual name of it, but all I remember is it included crispy, battered prawns in a spicy yet incredibly sweet garlic sauce. And man, it was divine. The prawns were huge, the batter was golden and delicious and the sauce – well, however basic it may have been, it was just so good.

Now we’re no longer in Pershore, and unfortunately we suffered real withdrawals as it seemed we couldn’t find a similar dish at our newly local Chinese takeaways. So of course, I thought I’d make my own crispy prawn recipe for two!

After playing around with it and trying out some much more complicated accompaniments, I settled on this somewhat simpler version of crispy prawns, served with a staple honey garlic soy sauce and scattered with coconut shavings.

This dinner recipe for two does require some deep frying – so this now remains a little more of a one-off treat, but I wonder if experimenting with an air fryer could solve that? Who knows. (In fact, let me know if you try it!)

Recipe ingredients

Serves 2 as a main. Approximately 40 minute cooking time.

• 150g of raw or cooked jumbo king prawns
• 50g of plain flour
• 40g of panko breadcrumbs
• 30g of cornflour (plus 1 extra tablespoon for the sauce)
• 20g desiccated coconut
• 100ml of soda water
• 1/2 of a white onion
• 1/2 of a red chilli
• 1 green pepper
• 1 teaspoon of paprika
• 1 teaspoon of garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons of white pepper
• 2 spring onions
• 4 garlic cloves
• 4 tablespoons of light soy sauce
• 4 tablespoons of honey
• 1 tablespoon of sweet chilli sauce
• 100ml of water
• About 600ml of sunflower or vegetable oil (depending on the size of your pot)

Cooking utensils

• 1 saucepan
• 1 deep pot for frying
• 1 mixing bowl
• 1 sharp knife
• 1 plate
• 1 whisk
• 1 food thermometer

1. As always, let’s prep first. Slice your green pepper, white onion and spring onions however you’d prefer – strips or chunks will work just fine. Set aside.
2. Slice your chilli & garlic and set aside.
3. Pour your oil into a deep pot and begin to heat. You want to carefully bring the oil up to about 170 degrees Celsius for optimal deep frying.
4. Time for the batter. In a bowl, mix your plain flour, cornflour, paprika, garlic powder and 1 teaspoon of white pepper. Pour in your soda water (it’s best if this comes straight out of the fridge!) and mix. You want the consistency to be a little like pancake batter.
5. On a plate, mix your panko breadcrumbs and desiccated coconut.
6. Ensuring your prawns are deveined first, dip each prawn into the batter and roll around in the coconut & breadcrumbs, patting it firmly onto the prawns.
7. Carefully add each prawn to the pot, ensuring not to overcrowd them, and deep fry for a few minutes until golden. You may want to do this in batches.
8. Set the prawns aside – I like to keep them warm on a low-heated oven.
9. For the sauce and garnish, fry off your green pepper and onions with just a splash of oil and soy sauce until they have softened a little and set aside.
10. In the same pan, pour in your soy sauce, honey, sweet chilli sauce, water and spoon in the garlic cloves and chilli. Simmer for about 30 seconds before adding your tablespoon of cornstarch and a teaspoon of white pepper. Simmer until it reaches your desired consistency – a few minutes tends to do the trick!
11. Now this bit is up to you. You can assemble the crispy prawns on top of the stir fried vegetables and drizzle the sauce on top, or you can combine everything into the pan with the sauce and coat evenly. All I ask, is that either way, you tuck in straight after!

Tasty tips!

• This recipe calls for jumbo kings prawns – and trust me, it’s worth the extra pennies. Any smaller, and you’ll find the dredging process more fiddly and time consuming.
• Conscious of time? I can recommend stir-frying your veg and making your sauce in advance before tackling your prawns, just until you get used to the process!
• Serve this dish up with simple white rice, or switch it up with some soy sauce coated noodles.
• I think the crispy coconut prawns would make an amazing starter dish, or a perfect party food recipe. Simply deep dry your prawns and serve with sweet chilli sauce, or make the honey sauce sauce without the vegetables for an easy dip!