#ewew cooks Sweet Preserved Radish with Prawns.....& Fish.....& Tofu

As promised, in my previous blog post of "What Can You Cook/Eat with Preserved Radish", I'm sharing my recipe of Sweet Preserved Radish with Prawns which turned out pretty successful even though I winged it.

You see, I've only bought the salty version for cooking but remembered (if I heard correctly) my sister-in-law saying someone told her that a dish of stir-fried prawns with sweet preserved radish tastes really nice.  With that in mind, I went out looking for sweet preserved radish after the wet markets were allowed to open under the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) coz that's when my dry goods supplier is back in action.

So, I managed to buy some....and by that, I really meant "some" coz in came in a sealed packet of three. "What am I going to with three packets?", I said to my dry goods supplier.  I only know how to fry omelette with the salty kind of preserved radish I told him.  When he said you can do the same with the sweet type, I was like "ok", I can use up the rest for that if I don't know what else to do with them.

Ingredients:

10 (fairly) large prawns
5 tbsp sweet preserved radish
5 shallots, finely sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 stalks spring onion, chopped
1 or 1/2 a red chilli, finely chopped
A drizzle of dark soy
Salt & white pepper to taste

Preparation:

I prepped the prawns by removing the shells of the body (for ease of eating) but left the head (with tip of prawn head, feelers and legs snipped) and tail intact (for more flavour) or you can choose to remove all the shells.  Make a slit at the back of the prawn to devein.

Method:

I pan-fried the prawns (seasoned with salt & white pepper) first in some oil and took them out once they're almost done.

Then, I sauteed some chopped shallots (till translucent) in some oil before adding green onions (white parts only) and chopped garlic.

Add the sweet preserved radish and fry all the aromatics till fragrant before finally adding chopped spring onions (the green parts) and chillies at the last minute.  Note that you can agak-agak the quantity for the aromatics as slightly more or less wouldn't affect the outcome a great deal.

At this point, put the prawns back in to toss with a very light drizzle of dark soy (you may add a little light soy and/or oyster sauce if you like yours more on the savoury side).....and it's ready to be served.  Prawns are very good friends with shallots, a lot of them is bound to make any prawn dish tasty.

I've to say I was pretty pleased with the outcome of this dish of Sweet Preserved Radish with Prawns which I cooked (or, should I say, experimented with) for the first time.  I loved the sweet-salty flavours from the preserved radish with the firm, fragrant prawns as a result of them being cooked with condiments of shallots, garlic, green onions and chillies.

The deshelled bodies of the prawns make for easier devouring while the intact heads are excellent vessels to absorb the flavour of the sauce.  Suck on the prawn head if you wish (no-one's judging....hee..hee)! ;)  I sure would...that's how I enjoy my prawns anyway.

I cooked this as one of our dishes for our dinner table.  As you can see, I only attempted to cook a small portion as I didn't want my (fairly) big prawns to go to waste just in case it doesn't turn out well.  In this case, my fears were unfounded as the dish turned out great (must cook a bigger portion next time).

This radish condiment is pretty versatile as I found it to be equally great as a topping for steamed fish.  Just dry fry the shallots, preserved radish, green onions (white parts only), garlic, chillies and spring onions (green parts) in a little oil until fragrant....in that particular order for best results (the preserved radish I thought needed a bit more frying time).  Drizzle a little light (or dark) soy at the end to bring some colour to the topping.

Spoon that over your usual steamed fish with soy + garlic oil and you'll realise that it adds so much more flavour to your fish.  But, more importantly, you can pretty much get away with serving fish that's not super fresh this way as the condiment can mask the slightly less fresh fish to a certain extent.  I'm happy to just eat this alone with plain porridge.  The sweet-salty flavours of the radish topping and soy sauce concoction of the fish goes very well with congee. ^.^

I make this for myself only since no-one in my family likes to eat steamed fish.  That's why you see half a fish steak if you're wondering why the fish is odd-shaped (I get my fishmonger to cut it down the middle when it's a big slice).  Cook this for your family if they happen to be lovers of both congee and steamed fish (I'm confident that they'll love it).

It works equally well as a topping for silken tofu too.  Having it this way is so much better than my previous boring way with just oyster and soy sauce.  It brings a lot more flavour and texture to the bland tofu. ^o^

I added a few drops of dark soy to make the topping even darker.  Besides extra flavour, I think the darker colour stands out (in terms of presentation) against the pristine white of the silken tofu (I'm in chef mode...lol).

Since discovering this delicious condiment, I've cooked it numerous times...usually with steamed fish and silken tofu.  On its own, I eat it with plain porridge.  I believe it's good as a topping on steamed eggs too but I don't make that at home since I suck at steaming eggs as it doesn't turn out smooth and soft like the ones from chap fan stalls.

But if you're feeling a little bit more hardworking, then make it with prawns.  Best of all, there's no hard and fast rule when it comes to the quantity of ingredients used to make up this condiment/sauce.  A little more...or a little less of each ingredient is not a major hoo-ha.  Give it a go and you'll forever be glad that you've found an extra way to enjoy tofu, steamed fish and prawns...or just plain with congee! ^_~

Serves two petite appetites (will cook a bigger portion next time)