Banana Prawns in Worcester Sauce

Hello guys, another one of my own version of simple Asian food.

Subsequent to #ProjectMirin, I've been thinking about other condiments that presumably worth to be the basis of various dishes in a certain period of time. Since I'll be posting about simple Asian dishes dedicated to all servant-less full time worker (wkwkwk), perhaps the worcester sauce will be nice. So here it is, the Banana Prawns in Worcerster Sauce.

I don't know where did I get the idea, but I've been making this dish since forever - with some improvisations here and there this time. Well, as my friend said this is the problem of a fat kid who always hungry - I made many things because I can't wait, relying my hunger in someone else's hand lol. The ingredients are simple: garlic cloves, big green chillies, onion, crushed black peppers, banana prawns (Fenneropenaeus merguiensis). For the sauce: tomato paste, worcester sauce, sweet soy sauce, and oyster sauce. I didn't use any salt and/or soy sauce, perhaps because I used margarine to stir-fried instead of oil (to me it tastes better with margarine). Why banana prawns? because it's juicy and a bit sweet, suits the sauce. I recommend you to use prawns (large shrimp) for this menu, because small shrimp is not really suitable. But you can always use your own preferred prawns. You may find many recipes similar with this one, with various measure for each ingredients. Or perhaps your family has been cooking it for ages. But then again, you're gonna have your own version eventually.

One of the improvisations this time is to marinate the prawns in oyster sauce for about 20 minutes (in substitution of salt). Another one is the broccoli, because I usually made it without broccoli. However, I only had a limited amount of prawns (i.e. 296 gram), so I added broccoli for quantity. Otherwise, I'm gonna mercilessly gobble it in just one gulp, and husband will eat Indomie.

The issues I'd like to highlight are (i) the type of worcester sauce and (ii) the frying pan. We know very well that the original or the pioneer of a worcester sauce is the Lea & Perrins. Here in Indonesia we have this "Kecap Inggris Asia Harum Sedap". I tried both sauce in various dishes just for comparison, and I like the Indonesian sauce better. Well, depends on the type of food. For a fried rice and some meat dishes, the Lea & Perrins is better. But for this particular prawns, I like the Indonesian sauce better because the spice taste is stronger. I really like the bold spice taste blended with the meat.

Second is the frying pan issue. I know it's easier to use a non-stick frying pan/wok for cooking (and cleaning). But I'm beginning to fully accept that the food taste, is much better with stainless steel or cast iron (no more denial). Since I dont really like the fact that cast iron requires certain procedure for its treatment, then I only use the stainless steel pans/wok. The significant difference is identified in cooking any kind of dishes with meat (including poultry and seafood). You know how important it is to brown the meat right, with the non-sticks, the browning process is not perfect/full. Also, to do the deglaciér, it's not very doable with the non-sticks. So my view regarding the non-stick cookware shall be similar with the bakeware as detailed in my earlier post. I have a recommendation for all stainless steel cookware in Indonesia, a Bandung based manufacturer with super good quality and super reasonable price (bought them online wkwk).

With the perfect choice of condiments and cookware, you might as well presenting various restaurant food at home. No need to go outside or order anymore. Happy eating and cooking.