Steamed Drunken Prawns

Being of Chinese origin, it is normal to see me cooking Chinese dishes. There are hundreds of Chinese dishes that will satisfy our palate to the fullest; be it Cantonese, TeowChew, Fujian, Shanghainese etc. What never fail to amaze me it the very interesting names given to the dishes.

Let's take today's dish that I cooked. Steamed Drunken Prawns.... pretty humorous name isn't it? If you if Chinese Kung Fu, you must have watched or heard about this famous Chinese Kung Fu movie called "Zhui Quan" or "Drunken Master" before. This Hong Kong movie starred the famous Jackie Chan. Now.. there is no connection between the Drunken Master (in the movie) with the Steamed Drunken Prawns that I made today. The Drunken Master did not get himself drunk after consuming Steamed Drunken Prawns!!! LOL

Actually, Steamed Drunken prawns got its name through the process of immersing the herbs into the wine and having the prawns steamed in this concoction. This is a very simple dish. Minimal preparation and since it is steamed you can be assured of a healthy and delicious restaurant like dish in 10 minutes
Steamed Drunken Prawns

Ingredients
300g large / medium size Prawns with shell(the fresher the better)
5-6 slices of Dang Gui (Chinese Angelica
6 Red Dates (seeds removed)
2 tsp Qi Zi (wolfberry)
50ml Hua Diao Jiu (or any type of liquor eg brandy, rice wine, sake)

Method :

1. Pre-soak the herbs in the liquor for at least 30 minutes to an hour to enable the liquor will absorb the aroma of the herbs.
2. Trim and wash the prawns.
3. Pat dry and arrange then in a steam tray or plate in a single layer. (Do not overlay as it will results in uneven cooking time during steaming.
4. Arrange the herbs on top of the prawns and pour the remaining liquor on it.
5. Steam over boiling water for about 4-5 minutes, remove and serve immediately.

Notes :
You could also microwave it by covering it with plastic wrap an cook on Medium power for 5 minutes. Be sure you use microwave utensils while steaming it on a microwave.