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Wok-fried prawn tails with egg noodles and garden tatsoi

19 Nov 2024

Tatsoi leaves are hard not to love. They grow so easily in a patch of sunny garden, and keep giving after you pick the leaves you need. They were the starting point for this weeknight supper.

Miniature pak/bok choy, if you like, tatsoi leaves are compact and flavourful and add an instant bit of interest to a wok fry. If you spot them among the herbs and greens at your plant nursery, grab them and put them in the garden. When you want to use some, pick the leaves you need and leave the plant to grow you some more. That’s value.

But the prawns are really the hero of this quick supper, and there are sliced mushrooms in it too, along with julienne-sliced red pepper, spring onions, either mangetout or sugar snap peas, and the aforementioned tatsoi leaves.

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The condiments used are tamari soy sauce, a touch of sweet soy, a dash of sesame oil, and seasoned rice vinegar (which is quite sweet). Because of the two sweet elements, I splashed some fish sauce in to tame them. Unless you’re following a Chinese recipe or one from another Asian region, using your palate and instincts is a good way to go with Asian ingredients.

The fat medium I used is coconut oil, and of course there’s garlic in the mix too.

As I often do, I finished the dish with noodles (Chinese egg noodles this time), which are first cooked according to the packet instructions, drained, and tossed through everything in the wok just before serving.

As for that packet of prawn tails, they need to be very thoroughly drained before going into the wok in small batches, so that you don’t end up with a watery mess.

For spring onions in a wok dish, always choose mature ones, as the skinny ones sort of disappear.

Regarding the seasonings, go easy on the sesame oil as it tends to dominate, and go lightly with the fish oil. Use black pepper, but don’t add salt as the soy sauces provide that.

Tony’s wok-fried prawn tails with egg noodles and garden tatsoi

(Serves 2-4)

Ingredients

500g frozen prawn tails, thawed, drained and patted dry

250g button mushrooms, sliced

1 red pepper, sliced in julienne strips

2 plump spring onions, sliced on the diagonal

About 16 to 20 mangetout or sugar snap peas

Tatsoi from the garden, or buy some from a greengrocer

2 or 3 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced thinly

Coconut oil

Tamari soy sauce

Sweet soy sauce

Sesame oil

Seasoned rice vinegar

Fish sauce

Black pepper

2 Chinese egg-noodle nests (I used a Woolies product) or other noodles of your choice

Method

Squeeze remaining water out of the prawn tails and pat dry in kitchen paper. Leave them in fresh air to dry out further.

Boil the egg noodles for 4 minutes and drain in a colander. Ignore them until needed.

Prepare all the vegetables: slice the mushrooms, red pepper and spring onions, and peel the veins off the pea shells. Chop the garlic.

Rinse the tatsoi, drain and air dry in a colander.

Have the condiments to hand, and a container for putting the cooked items in.

Heat a wok on a moderately high heat. Add coconut oil and melt.

Fry the prawns in batches in coconut oil with garlic and a hint of sesame oil, tossing immediately and repeatedly with wooden spoons. Remove to the container and repeat until all done. Add one or two of the seasonings to the wok, add back all the prawns, toss for 10 seconds, and return the contents to the container.

Add the sliced mushrooms with a little rice vinegar and black pepper, toss until nicely browned, then add the pepper strips, spring onion, peas, some of the soy sauces and a slash or two of fish sauce. Stir fry, tossing, for a couple of minutes.

Add tatsoi, and stir it through until just wilted. Add back the rest of the ingredients, and taste again to decide if it needs any more of the condiments. Toss the noodles through. Serve. DM

Tony Jackman is twice winner of the Galliova Food Writer of the year award, in 2021 and 2023

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This dish is photographed in a bowl by Mervyn Gers Ceramics.

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