Peter's Snowball and Golden prawn balls recipe

Here at Homes Victoria we are not only building homes, we are also building communities.  

Recently, Homes Victoria partnered with Belgium Avenue Neighbourhood House (BANH) and Richmond Youth Hub to celebrate the diverse and vibrant community of the North Richmond housing site through a community-inspired artwork for the hoarding on the Big Housing Build project site at Elizabeth Street, Richmond, where we are building 144 modern, sustainably designed homes.

You can learn more about the new artwork celebrating North Richmond’s vibrant culture here.

"I first opened a restaurant in China, then I studied a cooking course for about two years and opened a restaurant in Melbourne.

These recipes are favorites from Shanghai. People enjoy the prawn balls because they are crusty on the outside and soft on the inside.

The taste is very good, thanks to all the fresh prawn.

When I was very young, all the children liked the snowballs."

- Peter

Filling

• 1/3 cup peeled split mung bean
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup frozen grated coconut, thawed
• 1/2 cup roasted peanuts, unsalted
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar

Dough

• 2 cups Mochiko glutinous/sweet rice flour
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar
• Food colour: yellow, pink and Pandan paste

Cake Coating

• 1 cup sweetened shredded /powder coconut

Method

1. Mix glutinous rice flour with warm water at 30 °C to make a dough of the size you like.
2. Combine ingredients for the red bean paste filling, roll into a round and set aside.
3. Wrap the red bean paste in the dough.
4. Steam with water at 100 °C for 20 minutes.
5. Finally, roll in coconut powder and transfer to plate

• 350 g Tiger prawns headless (approx. 20 prawns)
• 300 g Shrimp paste
• 1 Egg
• 1 cup Panko
• 2 tsp Cornstarch
• 600g Oil

Method

1. Remove the shell of the prawns, leaving only the tail shell intact
2. Rinse the prawns
3. Butterfly the prawns by making a cut from the back without cutting through to the front
4. Devein and open the prawns onto a flat surface. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for all the prawns
5. Prepare 2 tsp cornstarch in a small bowl
6. Beat an egg in a bowl
7. Prepare 1 cup of panko in a medium size mixing bowl
8. Have your shrimp paste ready for use
9. Take one prawn and use your finger to rub some cornstarch over the side facing up
10. Use a small spoon to spread shrimp paste onto the prawn. Use your finger or spoon to pat and shape in onto the prawn.
11. Repeat steps 9 and 10 for all the prawns
12. Dip the stuffed prawn into the egg by hold the tail. Try not to get egg on the tail
13. Put the egg dipped prawn into the panko. Use a spoon to spoon the panko on the whole surface of the prawn except for the tail
14. Leave the prawn in the panko until you’re ready to deep-fry. Repeat for all the prawns
15. Heat 600 ml oil to 150˚C or 300˚F The amount of oil depends on the size of your pot. If you have a smaller pot, then you won’t need as much oil but you may have to fry the prawns in separate batches
16. Put the prawns into the oil. Do not overcrowd the pot. By doing so, you will not get the golden color in 3 minutes. Cooking it for longer may lead to over-cooking the prawns
17. Fry for approx. 3 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oil and let it rest on a cooling rack
18. Continue frying until all the prawns are fried. If you were frying them in batches, after the last batch, you can put the oil up to 175˚C or 350˚F and fry the prawns again to heat them up for 1 minute. This time, you can put more into the pot since they were warm already. This will ensure that all the prawns are nice and hot when you serve them
19. Place on serving plate. This dish can be served with sweet and sour sauce, Thai chili sauce or Chinese red vinegar

You can visit the artwork around the perimeter of the Elizabeth Street, Richmond site and explore the recipes below: