Homemade Prawn Toast Recipe: Crispy Sesame Triangles to Freeze

You need stale sliced white bread. I haven't bought a sliced white loaf, à la Mother's Pride, for about 20 years, since my Thai sister-in-law asked me if I knew how to make spring rolls. By coincidence, a Thai woman who ran a Chinese takeaway with her Cumbrian husband told me at her takeaway that takeaways use cheap sliced bread for spring rolls, pounded very flat, stuffed with bean sprouts, rolled and then deep fried.

For this prawn toast recipe you need similar bread. In Spain I bought pan de molde, made by the aptly named company Bimbo. They do a pack with the crusts already removed.

Makes: 8 triangles, or 2 portions: one for tonight, the other for the freezer.

Prawn Toast Recipe Ingredients

Prawn mixture

• 170 g fresh raw king prawns (peeled, deveined, and patted completely dry with kitchen paper)
• 1 small spring onion (finely chopped)
• 1 small clove garlic (finely grated)
• ½ cm piece fresh ginger (peeled and finely grated)
• 2 tablespoons beaten egg white (from 1 medium free-range egg; the dog gets the yolk)
• 2 teaspoons cornflour
• ½ teaspoon light soy sauce
• ½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• ¼ teaspoon caster sugar
• A small pinch of ground white pepper and salt

Bread and coating

• 2 slices thick-cut white sandwich bread (crusts removed; ideally slightly stale or left out to dry for 30 minutes)
• 3 tablespoons white and black sesame seeds, mixed (spread onto a shallow plate)
• 250 ml sunflower oil (for shallow-frying your fresh portion)

Prawn Toast Recipe Method

1. Prep and assemble both portions

1. Make the prawn paste: Place the dried prawns, spring onion, garlic, ginger, egg white, cornflour, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, white pepper and salt into a small food processor. Pulse until it forms a smooth, sticky paste. (Alternatively, finely mince the prawns by hand with a heavy knife and mix thoroughly in a bowl.)
2. Spread and coat: Trim the crusts off both slices of bread if they are still on. Divide the prawn paste evenly between the two slices, spreading it right into the corners. Press each slice, prawn-side down, into the plate of sesame seeds until coated.
3. Cut into triangles: Cut each slice diagonally into 4 neat triangles, giving you 8 triangles in total.

2. Freeze your second portion (4 triangles)

1. Flash freeze: Line a small plate or baking tray with baking parchment. Lay 4 of the raw triangles flat on the parchment so they are not touching.
2. Bag and store: Place in the freezer for 1 to 2 hours until solid. Once frozen, transfer them to a labelled freezer bag and store for up to 2 months.

3. Cook your fresh portion (4 triangles)

1. Heat the oil: Pour the oil into a small, deep frying pan or wok (about 2 cm deep) and heat over a medium-high heat until it reaches 170°C. Test with a tiny crumb of bread: it should sizzle immediately and float.
2. Fry: Carefully place the remaining 4 triangles into the hot oil, sesame-side down first. Fry for 1 to 2 minutes until the sesame seeds are golden brown and the prawn paste is cooked through.
3. Flip and serve: Flip the triangles over and fry the bread side for 30 to 45 seconds until crisp and golden. Drain well on kitchen paper and serve hot.

Cooking Your Frozen Portion Later

• Fry straight from frozen: Do not defrost the frozen triangles first. Shallow-fry them straight from the freezer in oil heated to 160°C for 3 to 4 minutes (sesame-side down for 2–3 minutes, then bread-side down for 1 minute) until golden and piping hot throughout.

Important note: use fresh, never-frozen king prawns, so the raw prawn paste is completely safe to freeze.

More ideas for fresh prawns are in my Prawn Recipes.

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This prawn toast recipe is part of the Chinese Recipes and Inland Fish & Seafood hubs. Find more recipes and food adventures here.

Wonky photos, proper food, genuine adventures – The Flexible Chef