How to Make Cereal Butter Prawns

Melt some butter and, when it's bubbling nicely, grab a few sprigs of curry leaves and rip off the leaves (with style, of course). Toss 'em in the wok, together with a roughly chopped up chilli padi. Stir vigorously, knocking the spatula against the wok now and then. (Not sure what the knocking is for but that's what chefs do. Or maybe it's a man thing?)

Butter, curry leaves and chilli padis are all pretty strong ingredients, but they complement rather overwhelm each other. Each stands its ground, yet works with the other two to create a killer combination loved by young and old alike. The threesome is excellent as it is but why stop there? When the aroma of the curry leaves starts drifting round the kitchen, tip a good half cup of cereal into the sizzling butter (with a flourish please). A few more vigorous stirs and – voila! – there's a pile of golden sand in the wok. I know many people would happily eat this crunchy sandy mixture with a shovel! It's so good it makes even cardboard taste good. (Not that I've tried, of course. I'll stick to prawns fried in the shell, thank you very much.)

I'd always thought cereal prawns were made with oatmeal, so my first stab at the recipe was with some Quaker instant oats that had been sitting on the kitchen counter, unloved and untouched. When the oats were mixed with melted butter, all I got was a disgusting, soggy lump that tasted downright nasty. Yikes! In the bin it went, no hesitation at all, and the prawns were eaten sans cereal.

Note to self: (1) '麦片' means cereal flakes; that's why '麦片虾', in English, is cereal prawns; (2) oatmeal is commonly referred to as '麦片' (which isn't wrong since oat is a cereal) but, strictly speaking, it should be '燕麦片'; and (3) need to improve my Chinese!

The second time round, after a bit of research, I bought a pack of Nestum All Family Cereal. This one, recommended by many cooks, worked like a charm. It was super fragrant and super crispy – a total success! There were smiling faces, finger licking, and nods of approval all round.
Yay!

Did you know that Nestum cereal, made by Nestlé, is 67% wheat flour? The rest of the ingredients are rice flour, sugar, corn and various vitamins. So everyone who eats Nestum cereal, thinking it's good for his health because that's what the ads say, is actually eating enriched, baked flour. Except it's sold at almost four times the price of regular raw flour! Nestlé is really smart, eh? No wonder it's the biggest food company in the world!

Would you like some Flour Butter Prawns? Nah, I think I'd go along with Nestlé. Cereal Butter Prawns sounds so much better!

Check these out:

Black Cod with Miso	Steamed Pork Ribs with Pickled Plums (梅子蒸排骨)	Saba Shioyaki	Andrea Nguyen's Asian Dumplings	Steamed Prawns with Garlic (蒜泥蝦)

CEREAL BUTTER PRAWNS (麦片虾) (Recipe for 4 persons) Cereal Mix ½ cup Nestum All Family Cereal (original flavour) ½ tsp salt 1 tsp sugar 1 tbsp milk powder dash of ground white pepper 16 prawns (600 g), trimmed, deveined, washed, and thoroughly dried 2 tsp salt 1 egg, beaten 3 tbsp plain flour vegetable oil for deep-frying 1½ tbsp unsalted butter 1 chilli padi, or to taste, thinly sliced 3 sprigs curry leaf, leaves only, washed and thoroughly dried Don't add too much chilli padi because the cereal sucks in a lot of the heat. I like my food quite spicy, and find that just half one is plenty. Thoroughly stir ingredients for cereal mix. Set aside. Sprinkle prawns with salt. Add egg and mix thoroughly. Sprinkle with flour and mix till coated. Deep-fry in just smoking oil over high heat till golden brown and just cooked. Drain. Fry curry leaves and chilli in butter over medium heat till curry leaves are brown and fragrant. Reduce heat to low. Add cereal mix. Stir till lightly golden. Curry leaves should crisp up as excess moisture is absorbed by the cereal. Add prawns and toss till well mixed, turning off the heat as the cereal becomes almost golden brown. Some but not all of the cereal should stick to the prawns. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Plate and serve.

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