Making any Indo-Chinese dish requires preparation in advance and chilli prawns is no different. I batter-fried the prawns first and then made the rest of the dish but in retrospect, pan frying them would have worked just as well, maybe better. I’ll surely try that next time but if you want to experiment that way, check notes and let me know how it turned out, won’t you? Now folks, this is chilli prawns so obviously using a few different types of chilies are in order. I went all in and used dry red chillies, green chillies, chilli sauce, capsicum, and black pepper. You must adjust all quantities to your preference and taste, I like my non-veg dishes on the spicy side. Some other recipe suggestions for you: Vegetable spring rolls Broccoli mushroom fried rice Kerala prawn roast recipe Chilli fish recipe Chicken fried rice Alright then, let’s go make some chilli prawns!
INGREDIENTS: 250 grams of prawns, shelled and cleaned 1 cup of green capsicum or bell pepper, cut into small cubes 2-3 dry red chillies 1 tsp of minced garlic 1 tsp of grated ginger 1/2 cup of onions, cut into small cubes 2 tsp of soya sauce 1 tsp of red or green chilli sauce 1-2 tsp of black pepper powder 1 tsp of corn flour or corn starch 1 tbsp of corn flour 4-5 tbsp of plain flour 1/2 tsp of black pepper 1/2 tsp of minced garlic 1/4 tsp of red chilli powder (optional) 4 cups of oil, for frying (or as required) 2 green chillies, slit
INSTRUCTIONS:
To make the batter:
Frying the prawns:
Putting everything together:
Step by step pictures for making Dry Chilli Prawns
Make the batter to fry prawns by mixing cornflour, plain flour, chilli powder, pepper powder, some salt, and garlic with some water.
Add the prawns and mix to coat well
Heat oil for frying and gently drop the batter-coated prawns in. Fry until light golden brown.
Drain and set aside. If you make the batter very thick, the coating will be thicker too. My batter was a bit on the thinner side so there was only a thin coating, which worked fine for me. I didn’t want the prawns to be too “doughy” after adding to the sauce.
In a pan, heat oil and add the green chillies, onions, red chillies, and capsicum. Saute until the onions turn soft and transparent.
Add ginger and garlic.
Continue to saute for another minute until fragrant (about 1-2 minutes)
Now add the soya sauce and chilli sauce. You can use red or green chilli sauce.
Cook on high heat for a minute or two and then add a generous amount of black pepper powder. Mix well.
Add the fried prawns and mix again well until the spices and vegetables coat the prawns.
Mix 1 tsp corn flour in 1/4 cup water and add to this. Turn off heat.
Mix everything together one last time, add salt if needed, and watch the sauce thicken. For a thinner gravy, add more water to the cornflour mixture.
Garnish with chopped spring onions as needed.
Serve dry chilli prawns with vegetable noodles or fried rice with vegetables. Mushroom fried rice will pair nicely with this dish.
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