Har Lok (Fried Prawns with a Sticky Sauce)
Har lok is a Cantonese-style fried prawn dish with a sticky sweet and sour glaze flavoured with aromatics. It’s East meets West using a mix of Asian and Western sauces. The prawns are cooked in their shell to impart extra flavour and seal in all the sauce.
Ingredients 15
10 raw large prawns, deveined, whiskers removed, shells on with tails intact, e.g. skull island tigers
neutral-flavoured cooking oil, for deep-frying
20 g fresh ginger, piece, julienned
30 g red Asian shallots, finely sliced
10 g garlic, crushed
10 g bird’s eye chillies, finely chopped
salt, to taste, for seasoning prawns
ground white pepper, to taste, for seasoning prawns
herb leaves, chopped, to garnish
Sauce
20 g tamarind puree
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp dark cooking caramel (black soy sauce)
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp caster sugar (superfine sugar)
Your new home
for cooking
Turn your recipe chaos into a plan for the week.
Browse 1000+ inspiring creator recipes
Unlimited recipe import from social media, blogs and more
Generate shopping lists and meal plans in seconds with AI
Method 6
Season the cleaned with salt and ground white pepper. Set aside.
Heat the oil in a wok over medium-high heat. To test if the oil is hot enough, put a wooden chopstick in the oil. If you see tiny bubbles gather around it, the oil is ready. (Alternatively, use a thermometer. It should register between 170–180°C/340–360°F.)
In batches, add the and fry until nearly cooked through. (The prawns will turn to a bright red colour when they are cooked.) Drain on paper towel.
Meanwhile, make the sauce. Combine all the sauce ingredients in a jug.
Discard the excess oil from the wok, leaving about 2 tablespoons of oil in the wok. Return the wok to medium heat and fry the , , , and until fragrant. Add the followed by the sauce. Toss to coat the prawns.
To serve, place on a large serving dish and garnish with some chopped herb leaves.
