Cantonese Salt-Baked Prawns

Whole prawns cooked in their shells on a bed of hot salt for sweet, intensely flavoured, juicy flesh.

TIME BREAKDOWN
Prep: 15 min
Cook: 20 min
Total: 35 minutes
Vegetarian
❌
Nuts
❌
Serves
4 people
Difficulty
Easy

Ingredients

  • 600g raw head-on king prawns, rinsed and patted very dry
  • 1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine
  • 1 tsp ground white pepper
  • 1/2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
  • 500g coarse sea salt
  • 5 slices fresh ginger
  • 4 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
  • 3 spring onions, cut into 5cm lengths
  • To serve: lemon wedges and steamed rice

Method

  1. Snip along the backs of the prawns with scissors, remove the vein, and keep the shells on. Toss with the Shaoxing wine, white pepper and five-spice and leave for 10 minutes.

  2. Pour the salt into a heavy-based casserole or wok with a tight lid. Heat over a medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until very hot.

  3. Make a nest in the hot salt. Add the ginger, garlic and spring onions and stir for 30 seconds.

  4. Add the prawns, nestling them into the salt, then cover with the lid straight away. Cook over a medium heat for 4 minutes without lifting the lid.

  5. Turn the prawns over, cover and cook for 3 to 4 minutes more, until the shells are bright orange and the flesh is opaque and cooked through.

  6. Lift the prawns out with tongs, shaking off the salt. Serve at once with lemon wedges and rice. The salt is for cooking only and is not eaten, so discard it once cool.