The First Step & Honey Walnut Prawns

Wow, so here is my first post of my food blog. I would like to say this is a very ground-breaking, historical event that will leave a profound impression on people, but that would just be ridiculous. Let me give you a brief introduction to my world (or at least the part I see).

My name is Lillian. I have received many nicknames over the years, including the obvious such as 'Lilly' or 'Lil'. ... and then some not-so-obvious like: 'Lilly-Pooh' (my parents), Mei, Tiger-Lilly, Lillypad, and L-Dog (don't even ask, I wouldn't even be able to give you an answer). I am 21 years young attending my fourth year at the University of California, Irvine as a Biological Sciences student. I currently have two locations I call my home: Los Angeles - where I was born, and Irvine - a deadbeat town where I get my higher level education. Outside of school and my homes, a significant portion of my time gets dedicated to my two jobs: Starbucks where, as my friend puts it, I push buttons and pour hot pitchers of milk into cardboard cups, and a laboratory where I spend my days with hundreds and hundreds of mice. In my nonexistent spare time I do my best to balance a social life, sleep, make Mr. Nice Guy smile, discover new hobbies, and COOK! I bet you all were wondering when I was going to get to the food part. After all... this is a food blog.

Okay okay, so enough with all this fluff and nonsense about who I "am". Let's get down to business, right? Time to discuss food. Now, this meal I made the other day in honor of the Lunar New Year. Let's get one thing straight though before I dive into this, I may be half Chinese, but I know nothing about Chinese dishes! So this was definitely an adventure.

First things first, why I chose this dish. A couple of my friends and I have this thing with shrimp. I can't really describe it but it goes far back and it's... it's personal. This is my all-time favorite Chinese dish and I knew if I pulled it off it would be a great success. For all of you who can't handle suspense, I'll tell you now that it turned out great! Well duh, otherwise there wouldn't be much to post.

I doubled this recipe and there was just enough to serve about 5 people. I originally was going to quadruple the recipe but didn't have time to fry 4 pounds of shrimp! That and I didn't want to have to keep going back to Trader Joes to buy more eggs (even though I live RIGHT across the street).

Honey Walnut Prawns
(recipe thanks to about.com)

1 cup water
2/3 cup white sugar
1/2 cup walnuts
4 egg whites
2/3 cup mochiko (glutinous rice flour)
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon canned sweetened condensed milk
Vegetable oil for frying

Because I am new to this, I was a complete fool and forgot to take photographs while cooking this so all you're going to get is the final product (and the picture doesn't even do it justice!).

Stir the sugar in the water and bring to a boil. Add walnuts and boil for two minutes.

Note: Doubled recipe called for 1 cup walnuts. I used a HEAPING cup of walnuts and it still wasn't enough. If you like walnuts, I would add A LOT more. I didn't measure I just dumped my bag of walnuts into the water until it looked like there was enough.

Did you know? - Because of sugar's affinity to hydrogen-bond with water, one can dissolve more than two pounds (5 cups) of sugar into one cup of water with heating!

Remove walnuts, drain, and place on a baking sheet to dry.

Whip the eggs in a medium-large bowl until foamy. Add the mochiko and continue whipping until a batter-like consistancy has been reached.

Note: I used cornstarch.

Heat oil in a deep skillet over medium-high heat. Coat the shrimp in the batter and drop into hot oil. Remove when golden-brown. It will take around 5 minutes. Drain shrimp on a paper towel covered plate.

Next, combine mayonnaise, honey and sweetened condensed milk. Add shrimp and walnuts and toss so everything can be coated in the delicious sauce. Best served warm! Enjoy! I know I did.



It was utter madness in the kitchen while I was making this. It's probably best that I have no images of the chaos. Halfway through I accidentally managed to dump a giant spoonful of cornstarch all over me. Despite being covered in white powder, I think it was a brilliant art statement. The starch-covered pants and shirt is the one thing of which I wish I had an image to include. One of my roommates was cheering me on from the sidelines, encouraging me, and providing moral support. She was my first test subject and I was grateful to see her devour the food. My other two roommates were continuously sampling the final product even as I was walking out the door. I brought it to work to share with some of my other friends. This was a truly delicious dish.

And now I am off to bed. I am thoroughly looking forward to the weekend, sleeping in, and listening/watching/sitting in the rain. Take care, everyone!