Try this recipe for prawn fritters, also known as hee chee or cucur udang. These crisp, doughy nuggets of small prawns, beansprouts and flour are fried to a golden brown and best served with garlic chilli sauce.
It makes for a great tea-time snack or if you’re entertaining, as an appetiser with cocktails before dinner is served.
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
- 1 tablespoon rice flour, optional
- 120 g peeled baby shrimp, rinse and pat dry
- 120 g bean sprouts, rinsed
- 2 tablespoons chopped spring onions or chives
- 1 large egg
- 3/4 cup water
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- Oil for deep-frying
Method
- Combine all the ingredients (except the oil) in a bowl and mix well. The mixture might seem dry at first but it will become slightly watery later.
- Heat up a wok with enough oil for shallow-frying.
- As soon as the oil is fully heated, lower it to medium heat, scoop up a heaping tablespoon of the mixture and gently drop it into the oil.
- Repeat until the wok is 80% filled with fritters. Depending on the size of the wok, they may have to be fried in two or three batches.
- Turn the shrimp fritters over and fry until both sides are golden brown.
- Remove with a strainer, draining excess oil. Then lay the fritters on a dish lined with paper towels.
- Serve immediately with your favourite chilli sauce.
Tips
- Trimming the ends of the bean sprouts is optional.
- Add some carrot strips into the mixture. It adds colour and a mild sweetness to the prawn fritters.
- Sweet potato strips make the fritters even better.
- This recipe is best made with the tiny baby prawns called “geragau”, which are used to make cincaluk.
This recipe first appeared in Rasa Malaysia
Low Bee Yinn is a food blogger and cookbook author.
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