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Kung po prawns

By Jane Hornby

Whip up this budget-friendly, Chinese favourite in just 20 minutes

Prep:10 mins
Cook:10 mins

Serves 4
Easy

Nutrition per serving

kcal 308
fat 18g
saturates 3g
carbs 13g
sugars 6g
fibre 1g
protein 25g
salt 2.07g

Ingredients

1 tsp cornflour
2 tbsp light soy sauce
400g large raw prawns, frozen is fine, butterflied (see tip, below)
2 tbsp Chinese rice vinegar
1 heaped tbsp tomato purée
1 tsp caster sugar
2 tbsp sunflower or groundnut oil
85g unsalted, roasted peanuts
6 small or 3 large whole dried chillies
2 x 225g cans water chestnuts, drained
thumb-sized piece ginger, finely grated
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Tip

Tip
To butterfly a prawn, make a cut along the entire length of the prawn, cutting almost all the way through. Pull out the black vein. Butterflying the prawns isn’t essential, but it helps them to cook more quickly, trap sauce and look great on your plate. Watch our step-by-step video on preparing prawns at bbcgoodfood.com.

Method

Mix the cornflour and 1 tbsp soy sauce, toss in the prawns and set aside for 10 mins. Stir the vinegar, remaining soy sauce, tomato purée, sugar and 2 tbsp water together to make a sauce.
When you’re ready to cook, heat a large frying pan or wok until very hot, then add 1 tbsp oil. Fry the prawns until they are golden in places and have opened out– then tip them out of the pan.
Heat the remaining oil and add the peanuts, chillies and water chestnuts. Stir-fry for 2 mins or until the peanuts start to colour, then add the ginger and garlic and fry for 1 more min. Tip in the prawns and sauce and simmer for 2 mins until thickened slightly. Serve with rice.