This dish is kind of disgusting if you think about it, really. Stuffing the poor prawn's eggs into its own body! Anyway, here goes -

Ingredients:

Large prawns
Ebiko (Japanese seasoned shrimp eggs - available at Japanese food markets cheaply in frozen form)
Mayonnaise
Salt

The method:

• Using a pair of scissors, snip off the front 1/4 of the prawn's head, the spike, and front legs
  
• Place prawns in boiling, salted water for 1 minute, turn off heat and leave to slowly cook in the hot water for 4-5 minutes
• Quickly submerge in cold water, and carefully peel off the shell but leaving the head and tail intact.
  
• Use a sharp knife to slice the middle section open, and wash off innards.
• Place prawns on a dish, straightened out and such that the slit in the body faces upwards. The middle portion should open up nicely to form a depression.
• Scoop up a teaspoon or more of ebiko, and place in the depression.
• Top with a spot of mayonnaise

Alternative method (the original concept):

• Prepare the prawns as described above, and cook as before.
• Remove the head and shell, but leave tail intact.
• Using a sharp knife, slice the prawn open totally to the tail portion.
• Make an ultra-thin egg omelette (1-2mm thickness) in a pan, and dish it out carefully.
• Cut out rectangular sections of omelette 5cm in breadth, and with a length matching the length of the prawns.
• Smear a thin layer of mayonnaise over the entire prawn, excluding the tail.
  
• Layer some ebiko between the 2 halves of the prawns, and wrap with the omelette. Seal the end of the omelette with a dab of mayonnaise.
  
• The prawns, if done this way, can be presented lying on their sides instead!
  

Posted by R. on Wednesday, September 20, 2006 at 9:47 AM | Permalink