Nai You Xia 奶油蝦 Butter Prawns - Malaysian Monday 56"

Butter prawns, 奶油蝦 (nai you xia in Mandarin or nai yew har in Cantonese) is a relatively new Malaysian classic popularly believed to be invented by a Chinese restaurant cook in the Southern state of Johor some 25 years ago. The cooking technique is unmistakenly Chinese; but this little known culinary genius cleverly incorporated Chinese, Indian, Malay and European ingredients so successfully in one single dish - the result is a true Malaysian masterpiece.

The following recipe is enough to feed up to 8 people as part of a Malaysian meal so feel free to halve the quantity for a smaller group. 

serves 8 as part of a Malaysian meal
you'll need;
1 kg of medium size king prawns*, seasoned with a little salt and pepper
oil for frying
1/2 cup of desiccated coconut, toasted
200 g of butter
2 whole round garlic or about 12 garlic cloves, chopped
12 to 15 bird chillies, chopped
6 egg yolks, lightly beaten with a pinch of salt
2 bunches of curry leaves, picked
a pinch of sugar
a slush of light soy

Chop garlic and chillies; pick curry leaves from stems and leave aside.

Toast desiccated coconut in a wok until golden and set aside.

Add a little cooking oil to a hot wok and pour in the beaten egg yolks, use a folk to whisk into fine strands. Mine didn't quite turn up how it should be be but it didn't affect the end result I think. (If you are using very fresh eggs with very thick creamy yolks, make sure you add a little water to the beaten yolk)

Deep fry prawns in batches until just cooked, drain well and set aside.

Melt butter in a wok then add in the chopped ingredients and curry leaves, fry for a minute on medium heat.

Return prawns to the wok and mix well follow by the cooked egg yolk, desiccated coconut, light soy and sugar and stir fry everything on high heat for a further minute.

Serve as part of a Malaysian meal.

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