Prawn Toast (also called Shrimp toast) is an iconic Hong Kong appetiser which fuses East and West.
If you've never had it, Prawn Toast is sliced white bread, spread with prawn puree, topped with sesame seeds and fried to perfection.
Prawn Toast was created in Hong Kong by combining Cantonese cooking and ingredients with Western imports of wheat bread.
Over the years, it has become a popular Western Chinese dish, thanks to Cantonese and Hong Kongese immigrants in the US, UK and Australia bringing delicious recipes with them.
So, you've probably already eaten prawn toast at a restaurant or as part of a Chinese take-out.
The good news is that it's surprisingly easy to make great prawn toast at home, meaning you won't always need to order takeout to satisfy your cravings!
First, you'll preheat your oil in a high-sided pan or deep fat fryer. Make sure you keep an eye on it - safety is critical when cooking with hot oil.
Then you'll blend up seasonings (ginger, soy sauce and spring onion) with some fresh, uncooked prawns until it forms into a smooth mixture. While the mixture should be smooth, it will still be thick and not runny.
You can leave some chunky texture, if you like. In fact, if you don't have a blender, you can make the whole thing by hand by chopping the ingredients on a board until very finely minced.
Once your prawn mixture is ready, you'll spread it onto slices of thick white bread, then cut the bread into triangles. Next, you'll dip the slices, prawn side down into a plate of sesame seeds. It's really rather a fun task.
Finally, you'll fry the slices until they're golden brown and transformed into perfect, crunchy prawn toast. Just make sure not to overcook them - or you'll end up with rubbery prawns.
And that's it! With minimal ingredients and a 7-step recipe, you can have restaurant-quality Prawn Toast in minutes!
Below I've included detailed instructions with clear photographs of every stage to help you get picture-perfect Prawn Toast. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 250 g (8.8 oz) raw prawns peeled, topped and tailed, deveined
- 1 tsp fresh ginger minced
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 3 spring onion minced
- 4 slices white bread
- 75 g (2.6 oz) sesame seeds
- Vegetable oil to fry
Equipment
- Small blender
- Grater very fine
- Plate
- Deep fat fryer or suitable high-sided saucepan or suitably large, high-sided saucepan
Instructions
Fill your deep fat fryer (or a suitably large and high-sided saucepan) to one third full with oil. It's important not to overfill your fryer as oil expands when heated and can bubble up further when food is added. Heat to 180C (355F). Keep your oil supervised at all times.
Put the prawns, ginger, soy sauce and spring onion in a small blender.
Blitz everything together until a smooth, thick paste is formed. If you don't have a blender, you could chop everything very finely until a minced quality is achieved.
Generously spread the mixture over the bread and place on baking paper to keep your surface clean. It will be fairly thick to use up all the paste.
Cut the bread into triangles. If you like, you can cut them after frying instead but I find this easier as I have a small fryer.
Put the sesame seeds on a plate. You will have to discard any leftover sesame seeds as they will save touched raw prawns, so don’t use more than you need.
Take a piece of bread and place prawn side down on the sesame seeds to coat.
Repeat until all the pieces are coated.
Place the bread in the oil, sesame side down. Fry for 2 minutes, then flip and cook for a further 1-1.5 minutes. Remove from the oil and place on a piece of kitchen towel to absorb any excess oil.
Serve with sweet and sour sauce.
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Prawn Toast Recipe
Ingredients
- 250 g (8.8 oz) raw prawns peeled, topped and tailed, deveined
- 1 tsp fresh ginger minced
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 3 spring onion minced
- 4 slices white bread
- 75 g (2.6 oz) sesame seeds
- Vegetable oil to fry
Equipment
- Small blender
- Grater very fine
- Plate
- Deep fat fryer or suitable high-sided saucepan or suitably large, high-sided saucepan
Instructions
- Fill your deep fat fryer (or a suitably large and high-sided saucepan) third full with oil. It's important not to overfill your fryer as oil expands when heated and can bubble up further when food is added. Heat to 180C (355F). Keep your oil supervised at all times.
- Put the prawns, ginger, soy sauce and spring onion in a small blender. Blitz everything together until a smooth, thick paste is formed. If you don't have a blender, you could chop everything very finely until a minced quality is achieved.
- Generously spread the mixture over the bread and place on baking paper to keep your surface clean. It will be fairly thick to use up all the paste.
- Cut the bread into triangles. If you like, you can cut them after frying instead but I find this easier as I have a small fryer.
- Put the sesame seeds on a plate. You will have to discard any leftover sesame seeds as they will save touched raw prawns, so don’t use more than you need.
- Take a piece of bread and place prawn side down on the sesame seeds to coat. Repeat until all the pieces are coated.
- Place the bread in the oil, sesame side down. Fry for 2 minutes, then flip and cook for a further 1-1.5 minutes. Remove from the oil and place on a piece of kitchen towel to absorb any excess oil.
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