Ahh, the creamy and savoury flavour of salted egg and butter sauce... Accompanied with fresh crunchy prawns? Yes please!

Salted Egg Butter Prawns, otherwise known as 黄金虾 (Mandarin for Golden Prawns) is a dish loved by many, particularly Singaporeans with an appetite for salted egg yolk - We incorporate the little ball of joy into some of the most well-loved eats, from snacks like Golden Custard Bun (流沙包) to desserts like Egg Yolk Mooncake!

These days I've been hanging out in the kitchen more than I used to, looking to direct all the stress from university admissions to something fun and challenging. Today was no different. Strolling into the kitchen where my helper was preparing dinner, I noticed that there was still a bowl of raw prawns left untouched. “You cook ah," she encouraged me, adding on that she hadn't decided what to do with them yet. Just the previous day, I had made Pasta Bolognese, so I wasn't very interested in repeating a tomato-based dish, which is what we normally do for prawns. I delved into deep thought, and literally found my answer by looking out of the window (cue inspirational music)


I'm not sure whose ingenious idea it was to plant a curry tree in the garden, but I am so glad we did because I was now one step closer to figuring out what I wanted to cook.


Prawns, and curry leaves... What else could that be? I raced back to the kitchen and checked if we had any salted duck eggs in the pantry, and with a stroke of luck (or not), we had two left. Now, two is definitely too little to cook a dish of Salted Egg Butter Prawns, but I decided to press on with this scarcity, because who doesn't like a little challenge?

Note: If you are looking to cook a very flavourful, salted egg yolk-y prawn dish, I advise that you consult another page because unfortunately due to the impromptu nature of my cooking, I had to go through a lot of improvisations that eventually led to a dish that I can only call 'Salted Egg Butter Prawns with a Twist' ...  Otherwise, do read on because I believe I have an interesting recipe to share!

Clockwise from Top Left: Minced garlic and chilli, prawns, curry leaves, salted duck eggs

Left to Right: Japanese curry cube, plum powder, oatmeal

The stroke of luck I mentioned earlier turned out to be a stroke of bad luck, as one of the salted duck eggs was spoilt (salted century eggs, anyone?) so I only could make do with a single salted duck egg. I was already worried about making the recipe work with two eggs, not to mention one, so the second image shows the ingredients that I decided to add on last minute to 'compensate' for the lack of salted egg yolks:

Japanese curry - Contributes to the creamy texture of the sauce
Plum powder - Gives the sauce a very slightly tangy taste (See how I incorporated plum powder in another recipe!)
Oatmeal - Adds a different dimension of texture to the dish

In the post title, I mentioned something about a twist... So, where does the twist come in? In my opinion I feel that the twist comes in when I add in the Japanese curry. It helps to amplify the salted egg yolk taste, enough for the dish to be palatable, but not enough for it to be a full-fledged Salted Egg Butter Prawn dish, sadly.

INGREDIENTS
4 tbsp of minced garlic (I only used 2 tbsp as we were running out of garlic)
2 medium chillis, chopped
220g of prawns (approximately 16 prawns)
20 curry leaves
1 salted egg yolk
4 tbsp of butter
1/2 piece of Japanese instant curry cube
2 tbsp of plum powder
6 tbsp of oatmeal (In the picture I only prepared 2 tbsp)
Salt & Pepper to taste
Water to be added whenever necessary

STEPS
1) Crack the salted duck egg into a bowl, keeping only the yolk
2) Boil the duck yolk for 7 minutes
3) After approximately seven minutes, remove the yolk and place into another bowl
4) Add the Japanese instant curry cube to the same water used to boil the duck yolk

5) Mash the egg yolk using a fork, gradually adding the plum powder and mixing well
6) When the curry is done, remove from heat and set aside
7) Set a wok on medium heat
8) Melt all the butter and coat the wok
9) Add mashed egg yolk to the wok and stir quickly to prevent it from burning
10) Add around 50ml of water and stir to make a thick sauce
11) Gradually add the curry sauce, mixing well.
12) Store the completed sauce aside, and use a different wok (otherwise wash and reuse the previous one)
13) Repeat steps 7&8
14) Add the minced garlic and stir-fry to release fragrance
15) Add chopped chilli and curry leaves, stirring well to mix
16) Add around 50ml of water to prevent overcooking
17) Add prawns, mixing well to ensure even heat distribution
18) When the prawns are pink, add the sauce and stir-fry
19) Add the oatmeal, and water if the sauce starts to dry up
20) Taste the sauce and add pepper or salt to taste - otherwise, remove from heat and plate


My family was relatively pleased with this dish - my father gave the rare compliment, saying that it tasted yummy, whereas my younger sister said that it "tastes good but doesn't taste like salted egg" - Oh well, what to expect when I only had a single egg yolk to work with?

If not for the fact that salted duck eggs are relatively expensive in Singapore, I would probably be experimenting a few more times, seeing that we have an abundance of curry leaves in our backyard - that said, I'll probably shift my focus to more dishes that use curry leaves!

xoxo
Valerie