Poached Prawns

Ingredients

• 250 g live prawns
• 1 head onion
• 1 block ginger
• 5-8 cloves garlic
• 1 root spring onion
• 10-15 ml cooking oil
• 20 ml rice wine
• 10-15 ml soy sauce
• 1 handful sesame seeds
• 10 ml rice vinegar
• 10 ml oyster sauce

Method

Set up your steaming vessel: the aromatics are your cooking medium and flavour base. Brunoise the onion finely—aim for 3mm dice—and slice the ginger into thin matchsticks, roughly 4cm long. These will release their essential oils under the lid's trapped steam, creating an aromatic microclimate that steaming the prawns gently without drying them. Spread them evenly across the bottom of a wide, flat-bottomed pan; this matters because uneven piling creates hot spots and uneven cooking.

Devein the prawns if the black line bothers you aesthetically—it's gut matter and doesn't harm flavour, but it does matter for presentation. Leaving the legs and antennae on adds theatre at the table and protects the delicate tail meat from overcooking at the edges. Rinse them briefly under cold water and drain thoroughly; excess moisture will lengthen the cooking time and dilute your aromatics. Arrange the prawns in a single layer, nestled into the ginger and onion. Cover the pan and place it over medium heat for exactly one minute—this builds steam pressure. You'll hear it whistle faintly at the edges. Drop to low heat and cook for five minutes. The residual steam will finish the job; turn off the heat and leave the lid on for another five minutes. The prawn flesh should be opaque and just beginning to curl. Overcooked prawns become rubbery; undercooked ones remain translucent and floppy at the tail.

Make the sauce whilst the prawns steam. Slice spring onion into thin rings, keeping white and green separate. Mince the garlic finely. Combine soy sauce, rice vinegar, and oyster sauce in a small bowl—this is your acid-salt-umami trinity. Heat your oil until it just begins to shimmer; you want it hot enough to bloom the garlic and sesame seeds, releasing their volatile compounds. Pour it over the garlic and spring onion whites first, let it sizzle for ten seconds, then stir in the soy mixture and sesame seeds. Finish with the spring onion greens for colour and a sharp, fresh note.

Transfer the prawns to a serving plate using tongs, leaving the spent aromatics behind. Drizzle some of their cooking liquid over the prawns if you want extra moisture, then set the dipping sauce alongside. Eat the prawns whole, heads and shells included, dipping each one in the sauce.