Stuffed Prawns

The theme for November 2010 Kulinarya Cooking Club is Relleno or Stuffed meat, seafood, or vegetables which is great because I love making and eating rellenos. The rellenos I have made are boneless chicken, squid, crabs, and our favorite, eggplants and green bell peppers and I have also stuffed mushrooms, vegetable marrows, tomatoes, and potatoes. I guess I'm just relleno-happy. ^__^

The only other ingredients left that I haven't made into Philippine-style relleno are prawns, and I would love to stuff whole frogs too if only they were readily available. For the prawn stuffing, I used a combination of smoked ham [instead of the usual ground pork], scallions, chives, and Italian parsley and wrapped them in lumpia (spring roll) wrapper before deep frying until crispy. They are crunchilicious and are the perfect appetizers for the coming holiday meals. I love them served with sweet chilli sauce or spicy banana ketchup.

Stuffed Prawns
12 large prawns, shelled but leave tails intact
¾ cup finely chopped smoked honey ham
1 tablespoon each finely chopped scallions, chives, and Italian parsley
6 sheets lumpia (spring roll) wrapper, cut in half
light olive oil for frying

• Slit the back of the prawns. Combine ham, scallions, chives, and parsley. Fill each prawn with one tablespoon of the mixture and wrap with spring roll wrapper. Deep fry in hot oil until golden brown and crispy. Serve immediately with sweet chilli sauce on the side.

Kulinarya was started by a group of Filipino foodies living in Sydney, who are passionate about the Filipino culture and its colourful cuisine. Each month we will showcase a new dish along with their family recipes. By sharing these recipes, we hope you find the same passion and love for Filipino Food as we do.

Thank you Anna and Dahlia for choosing Relleno and for hosting this month's Kulinarya Cooking Club edition.