Noodles East · Chinese home cooking
Steamed Prawns with Garlic and Vermicelli
Butterflied prawns steam on a bed of glass vermicelli with a heavy garlic and soy drizzle, so the noodles drink up the sweet shellfish juices as they cook.
About this dish
Prawns and vermicelli are a practical pairing: the shells give off a sweet, briny liquor as they steam, and the noodles sitting underneath catch every drop. Butterflying each prawn lets the garlic sit right on the flesh instead of sliding off, and it cuts the cooking time to a few minutes. Watch the clock closely here, because a prawn goes from translucent to chalky in well under a minute. The reward is a plate that smells of the sea and toasted garlic, with noodles stained faintly amber at the bottom.
Before you start
Equipment: Steamer. Tap the ingredient checkboxes as you go.
Method
7 steps · tick each one off as you finish it.
Soak the noodles
Soak 80 g vermicelli in warm water for 5 minutes, then drain and cut the bundle a few times with scissors. Ready strands are limp and see-through, with no stiff white thread left in the middle.
Butterfly the prawns
With kitchen shears, split each of the 400 g prawns along the back through the shell and press it flat, leaving the tail on. Rinse away the dark vein; the flesh should look pale, wet and intact.
Make the garlic oil
Warm 2 tbsp neutral oil in a small pan over medium-low heat and add 30 g garlic with 15 g ginger. Fry for 90 seconds, stirring, until the mixture smells fragrant and the garlic is pale gold, never brown.
Mix the drizzle
Stir 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp wine, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp sesame oil and 1/4 tsp white pepper together for 20 seconds. The moment to move on is when the sugar has vanished and the liquid looks uniform, not streaky.
Assemble the plate
Spread the vermicelli over a heatproof plate and lay the prawns on top, cut-side up, spaced about 2 cm apart. Spoon the garlic oil over each prawn, then drizzle the sauce across the noodles; everything should glisten.
Steam
Bring the steamer to a full rolling boil over high heat, set the plate inside and cover tightly. Steam for 5 minutes; the prawns are done when the flesh is uniformly opaque and the tails have curled firm.
Garnish and serve
Scatter 40 g scallions over the plate and let it sit, covered, for 1 minute off the heat. Serve straight away while the broth bubbles faintly at the rim and the garlic still smells warm.
Tips that matter
- Leave the shells on; they keep each prawn in shape and release the sweet liquor that seasons the vermicelli from below.
- Steam on a fully rolling boil from the start, because a slow warm-up overcooks the thin tail meat before the thick heads set.
Easy variations
- Swap the prawns for 400 g cleaned squid rings, cut the steaming to 3 minutes, and add a squeeze of lime at the end.
- Fold 1 tsp chilli crisp into the garlic oil for a warm, speckled heat without masking the shellfish sweetness.
Questions that come up
How do I know the prawns are not overcooked?
Pull the plate the moment the flesh turns opaque and the tails curl; carryover heat keeps cooking for another minute, so a little translucency at the thickest point is safe.
My vermicelli ended up bland. Why?
It was probably soaked but placed under dry prawns. Spoon some of the soy drizzle directly onto the noodles and let them sit in the prawn juices for a minute before serving.
Nutrition, roughly
| Energy | 320 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 32 g |
| Carbohydrate | 30 g |
| Fat | 9 g |
Estimated per serving from standard ingredients, rounded. Treat it as a guide, not clinical data.
Boiling Noodles and Pasta Well
Salt, water volume, the two-minute window and the starchy cooking liquid that most home cooks pour down the sink.
