Prawns Wrapped in Taro Paste

This is another prawn dish that is nice to serve for Chinese New Year. I made this dish a few years ago but never posted it in my blog. I am recreating it again so I could post it here for my record. This dish will be ideal as an appetizer too. The taro which is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside compliments well with the succulent prawn within.

Ingredients:

15-18 large prawns – shell,deveined and leave the tail intake
2 tbsp flour

Marinate for prawns:

1 tbsp soy sauce
A few dashes white pepper
1 tsp Chinese cooking wine

Ingredients for Taro Paste:

450 gram taro/yam
90 gram wheat starch
70 ml boiling water
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
¼ tsp 5 spice powder
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 small red chili - chopped
1 stalk green onion – chopped

1. Marinate prawns and set it aside. Cut taro into small chunks and steam it over high heat until soft. While the taro is steaming prepare the wheat starch dough.
2. Add boiling water into the wheat starch, stir it with chopsticks and when it is cool enough to handle, knead it into soft dough. Once the taro is done, mashed it up while it is still hot.
3. Then add it to the wheat starch dough together with the rest of the ingredients except for the flour. Mix and knead until well combined. Covered and let it rest for 10 minutes.

4. Dry the marinated prawns on paper towel and dust it lightly with flour. Pinch a ball of the taro dough (amount depend on the size of the prawns) and wrap it around the prawns except for the tail.
5. Heat up some vegetable oil for deep frying. Fry the prawns on medium high heat until brown.
6. Serve warm with chili sauce.

I am submitting this post to Chinese New Year Delights 2013 hosted by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover .