I’ve heard a lot about nose-to-tail cooking but have not actually practiced it. That was until I chanced upon a video on YouTube where a Chinese guy utilised 1,000 small shrimps to create a single bowl of prawn noodles; every single part of the crustacean was used!
I was inspired and decided to try it for myself, using 25 prawns that I bought from the supermarket to create my very own bowl of prawn noodles. Ladies and gentlemen, I now present to you my 25-Prawn Noodles recipe.
Ingredients
- 25 medium prawns
- 200g semolina flour
- 30g plain flour
- 15g corn starch
- 2 egg whites
- Unsalted butter (125g)
- 200g Spring onions (keep some for garnish)
- Light soya sauce
- Oyster sauce
- Sesame oil
- Salt
- White pepper
- Lao gan ma chilli (optional)
Note: You’ll need a pasta machine.
Preparing the 25-Prawn Noodle
Step 1: Start peeling the prawns and separate the meat from the shells. If you’re sensitive to raw shellfish, wear gloves to protect your hands. Since we’ll only be handling the prawn meat in step 8, refrigerate them first.
Step 2: Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Once ready, bake half of the prawn heads and shells on a baking tray without any oil for about 30 minutes.
Step 3: With a heavy duty blender capable of processing hard items, blend baked heads and shells to attain Prawn Powder.
Step 4: Heat up a non-stick pan and add in 60g of unsalted butter, then add in 100g of spring onions (cut in long sections) and sauté till fragrant. Next, add in the other half of your prawn heads and shells.
Step 5: Sear the heads and shells until they turn vibrant red, then add roughly 500ml of cooking oil. Allow it to reach a boil before reducing the heat to simmer.
Step 6: Once the oil has reduced to one-quarter of its original volume, acquiring a dark-red hue, strain the shells and heads to obtain Prawn Oil.
Step 7: In a pot, add in the shells and heads acquired from step 6. Pour in 2.5 litres of water and add in fresh sprigs of spring onion. Boil and reduce till one-quarter; Prawn Stock should be slightly thick and robust in flavour.
Step 8: Take out prawn meat from the fridge and cut them into small cubes. Then add in 15g of corn starch, 2 egg whites, salt and pepper onto prawn cubes. Mix well.
Step 9: In a non-stick pan, heat up some Prawn Oil. Add 2 tablespoons of Prawn Powder and lightly stir-fry. Then add marinated prawn meat and a ladle of Prawn Stock, sauté till cooked; put meat aside.
Step 10: For the noodles, I adopted a semolina pasta method. Using 200g of semolina flour, make a hole in the centre just like a volcano crater. Add a ladle of Prawn Stock, 2 pinches of salt and 2 pinches of Prawn Powder.
With a fork, slowly incorporate the flour into the middle. As the mixture gradually forms into big lumps, use your hands to knead and form the dough. To determine whether it’s ready, push 2 fingers in— the dough should return to its original state.
Step 11: Cover the dough with cling wrap and let it rest for at least 30 minutes.
Step 12: Turn the knob on the pasta machine to ‘1’. Slowly roll the rested dough to flatten it out. Switch the knob to ‘2’ and then ‘3’, depending on how thick you want your noodles to be.
Fold both sides towards the centre and keep passing it through the roller until you get a nice rectangular shape. Ensure you have some plain flour on standby to lightly dust the dough, preventing it from sticking.
Step 13: Finally, run the dough through the attachment to create linguine-shaped noodles.
Step 14: Bring a pot of water to boil, add in noodles and cook for a couple of minutes till al dente.
Step 15: In your serving bowl, add in 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce, 2 tablespoons of light soya, a dash of sesame oil and white pepper. Finally, add in a ladle of prawn stock. Place noodles directly on top of the seasonings.
Step 16: Crown your noodles with the cooked prawn meat, then drizzle some Prawn Oil. Lastly, sprinkle some sliced spring onions on top for garnish.
Mix everything together and enjoy! For those who love a kick of spice, you may also add on some lao gan ma chilli.
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