Chinese Stir-fried Prawns with Dragonwell Tea

This recipe just looked to delicious not to share! 

This yummy recipe incorporates Dragon Well (Long Jing) tea, one of the most prized green teas in China, but you can get your Dragonwell tea here!

Using hot but not sizzling oil, you'll pre-fry the shrimp. This keeps the delicate seafood tender. Be watchful of the oil temperature - if it's too hot, the shrimp will become yellow, if too cool they will lose their starch coating which is important for the sauce to adhere.

Ingredients

1 pound raw peeled, deveined prawns (about 1.25 pounds before peeling)

3/4 tsp salt

2 T egg white

3 T potato starch

1 T Dragonwell tea (You can substitute other unflavored green tea as well)

1 3/4 c cooking oil

1 T rice wine

1/2 tsp potato starch mixed with 1 T cold water

Red rice vinegar, for serving

Instructions

1. Rinse and drain the shrimp and pat them dry with paper towels.
2. Place them in a bowl with the salt and the egg white and stir vigorously with your hand, in one direction, until they have a slightly springy texture.
3. Add the 3 tablespoons potato starch and mix well, until they are evenly clothed in starch and egg white. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours.
4. Put the tea leaves in a small bowl or tea cup and and cover with 4 tablespoons of water just below the boiling point (about 185 to 195 degrees F or 85 to 95 degrees C). Leave to infuse for 1 minute, then strain out the tea leaves, retaining both them and the infused liquid.
5. Stir 2 teaspoons of the cooking oil into the shrimp, so they’ll separate when they cook.
6. Heat the remaining oil in a seasoned wok over a high flame to 250 - 260 degrees F.
7. Add the shrimp and separate them with chopsticks. Stir them gently until they have curled up, become opaque and are very nearly cooked through; remove them with a slotted spoon.
8. Take great care not to let the oil overheat. The idea is to keep the shrimp very tender and succulent, not to sizzle them; if the oil reaches 275 degrees F you will begin to lose some of their succulence.
9. Drain all but 1 tablespoon oil from the wok. Return it to a high flame and add the shrimp, rice wine, tea leaves, and 2 tablespoons of the tea infusion, and stir rapidly to incorporate. Stir the starch mixture and pour it into the wok, stirring.
10. As soon as the juices have thickened, remove the shrimp from the wok and serve with a dish of vinegar for dipping.

SOURCE: cookswithoutborders.com