Prawn Stuffed Zucchini Flowers
I made this recipe in February which tasted like a ‘stuffed zucchini flower meets prawn toast’’ delight. There’s also a Vietnamese recipe called ‘Bông bí nhồi tôm thịt’ which is where pumpkin flowers are stuffed with pork and prawn, so I guess I subconsciously channelled it as I was playing around and cooked this.
It was honestly one of the tastiest things I’ve ever made. If you can get your hands on zucchini flowers which are in season in summer, this is a great way to cook them that isn’t your standard ricotta filled Italian style recipe
Ingredients
- 8 zucchini flowers
- 2 cups of oil for frying
- ¼ cup of Vietnamese Dipping Sauce
Prawn Filling
- 20 green or banana prawns, raw and peeled
- 2 tsp of sesame oil
- 1 tsp of sugar
- Pinch of Salt & white pepper
- 2 tsp of fish sauce
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Batter
- 1 cup of plain flour sifted
- Generous pinch of salt
- ¾ cup of sparkling or soda water
- ½ cup of sesame seeds
Watch the process
Method
- Make your prawn filling by placing your prawns into a food processor and blitzing for 20 secs or until you get a smooth and mousse-like texture. Season with sugar, sesame oil, fish sauce, garlic and white pepper and blitz again to combine. Set aside to marinate.
- Prepare your batter by adding your flour and salt into a shallow bowl and then slowly whisk in the soda water until you get a thin crepe-like batter consistency. Set aside.
- Fit a piping bag with a round nozzle and fill the bag with the prawn filling.
- Prepare the zucchini flowers by gently peeling back each petal to reveal the pistil/stamen which is the core and pluck to remove. An optional step but I like to remove it so there’s more room for the filling.
- Pipe the filling gently into the cavity of the zucchini flower, approx ¾ full making sure you don’t overfill. Gently cover the prawn filling with the petals and then twist the petal ends together to seal.
- Heat your oil in a pot and once it starts bubbling when you place a chopstick into the oil, you’re ready to fry.
- Check the consistency of the batter again which would have slightly thickened and add more water if preferred. For a thicker batter, go for a pancake consistency. For thin, aim for a runny crepe like batter.
- Dip your zucchini flowers into the batter and fully cover all surfaces, then quickly dip part of the flower head into a dish of sesame seeds and lower into a pot of oil and shallow fry for a few minutes, turning over a few times till golden.
- Remove and allow to drain on a plate lined with paper towel and sprinkle some salt to garnish.
- Serve immediately with an optional dish of Vietnamese dipping sauce to dip into!
