Mekong school prawns stir-fried with pork belly

Luke Nguyen urges cooks to keep the prawn shells on for this delciously simple stir-fry. "Once cooked" he says, "they become deliciously crisp and add great texture to the finished dish." If however, you can only find large prawns, peel before marinating.

• serves

  2

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  10 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

200 g school prawns, tip of heads, legs and tail trimmed

200 g boneless pork belly, finely sliced into 2 mm pieces

2 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

2 tbsp finely chopped garlic

4 tbsp finely chopped lemon grass

3 spring onions, sliced into 4 cm pieces

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 red Asian shallots, finely diced

3 sprigs coriander

Marinating time 15 minutes

Instructions

Place pork belly and prawns into two separate mixing bowls. In each bowl add 1 tbsp fish sauce, ½ tbsp sugar, ½ tsp pepper, 1 tbsp garlic and 1 tbsp lemon grass. 

Combine ingredients in each bowl well and marinate for 15 minutes.

In a hot fry pan, add oil and fry red shallots and the remaining 2 tbsp lemongrass until fragrant. Now add pork belly and cook for 2 minutes or until brown on high heat. Add prawns and stir fry until prawns change colour, then add spring onions and toss for another minute.

Transfer to a plate and garnish with coriander. Serve with jasmine rice.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.