Caper Battered King Prawns

We’d planned a simple cold salad for yesterday after I finished dragging a heavy bike around York. But temptation got the better of me and I bought a pack of raw King Prawns to go with it. Now normally we’d make a Caper dip to go with battered Prawns, but maybe the heat got to me?

Here was my logic:-

The astringency of Capers works really well with Seafood. King Prawns remain tender when you batter them because the batter stops the moisture from frying out of them. So cut out the middle man and just add the Capers to the batter.

Ingredients:-

250g of raw shelled King Prawns
½ a small jar of drained Capers
50/50 mix of Gram Flour and Cornflour to make the batter base
Salt & fresh ground Black Pepper to season
¼ of a Tsp of Asafoetida
½ a Tsp of Turmeric for colour
Soda Water
½ a Tsp of Baking Powder

Method:-

(1) Heat a fryer to 160c.
(2) Mix the batter with enough Soda Water to make a very sticky batter.
(3) Coat the Prawns individually making sure that the Capers stick.
(4) Fry in small batches until the are golden brown.
(5) Set aside to drain.

Drizzle with Tonkatsu Sauce if you wish?

Strangely morish as these were and certainly not unpleasant, there was something missing. We could taste the Capers in the Batter and the Prawns were succulent. But somehow it didn’t quite pull together as I would have liked. Maybe I’ll swap the Salt for Garlic Salt next time?