I’m actually not sure what to call this dish. I mean, I know the Indonesian: my mother named this simply as Udang Goreng Tepung. Loosely translated, it means ‘floured fried prawns’. Erm, that doesn’t sound very appetising.

My friend told me that the dish has another name: bakwan udang, which translated into prawn fritters. That seems straightforward, and sounds quite correct!

Growing up, I eat prawn fritters almost every week. It’s my favourite dish when I was little—partly because I was such a picky eater that I would not eat anything else but prawns. When my family and I went to eat yumcha, my parents would older one serve of hakao, which I would eat with rice, minus the wrappings (which are eaten by my sisters). In summary, I really, really love prawns.

This dish is my mom’s recipe. It’s really easy—only slightly troublesome as you actually need to fry them (which uses quite a lot of oil). But I do think it’s worth it!

Serves makes about 10 prawn fritters
Cooks in 15 minutes
Difficulty easy

INGREDIENTS

  • prawns, roughly chopped, around 250 gr
  • vegetable oil (enough to fry the prawn batter)
  • fish sauce (1 tbs or so)
  • pepper
  • sesame oil (optional, but I like the taste)
  • 1 egg
  • flour (around 2-3 tbs, but add one tbs at a time until you get the desired consistency)

METHOD

  1. Mix prawns with pepper, fish sauce, and sesame oil.
  2. (Because I’m lazy, I’m doing everything in one bowl. But you can make the batter—egg and flour—on another bowl). Push the prawns to the side of the bowl and crack an egg on the other side. Whisk the egg with a fork. After egg is whisked, mix the egg with the prawns.
  3. Add flour, one tablespoon at a time, until the desired consistency is reached. The batter should be quite sticky so you can fry them easily.
  4. Heat a pan and add oil. Test the oil by putting one drop of the batter. If it fizzles, the oil is ready.
  5. Fry the batter (I usually use the biggest spoon I have to scoop the batter, slide it on the oil, and push the batter a bit so it would spread) on one side. Once it’s browning, flip to the other side.
  6. Put the prawn fritters on a plate with tissue paper to absorb extra oil. Enjoy with Sambal ABC!

Ps. I usually keep the oil for another batch of frying, discarding them after 2-3 uses.