Eva Pau's Asian Kitchen S220 Minutes

Prawn and Thai Basil Yuk Sung

Name: Prawn and Thai Basil Yuk Sung
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Asian
Ingredients: 500g raw peeled and deveined prawns; 4 large garlic cloves; 2 banana shallots; 2 medium red chillis, deseeded; 2 scallions, finely chopped; 150g tinned water chestnuts, blitzed or finely chopped; 100g Fresh Thai Basil, use leaves only; 2 baby gem lettuce; Chopped spring onion and red chilli to garnish; 2tbsp groundnut/peanut oil (for frying); Marinade for prawns:; ¼ tsp salt; two pinches white pepper; 1tsp caster sugar; 2tsp fish sauce; 1tsp light soy sauce; 1tsp cornflour; Sauce:; 2tbsp oyster sauce; 2tbsp Thai sweet soy sauce; 2tsp caster sugar

Eva PauFrom the series · Eva Pau's Asian Kitchen S2

20 min totalServes 4Easy

Time20 min

Serves4

SkillEasy

ShowEva Pau's Asian Kitchen

Method

Chop the prawns into small bite sized pieces. Marinade with salt, white pepper, sugar, fish sauce, light soy and cornflour. Set aside.

Mix the sauce ingredients together and set aside.

Blitz the chillies, garlic, shallots and 2/3 of the scallion in a blender of food processor until they're finely chopped but still have some texture

In a hot wok, add 2 tbsp of groundnut oil. Once the oil is hot, add the blitzed aromatics and stir fry for 2 mins on medium heat until fragrant. Do not let the garlic burn or turn too golden brown.

Add the chillies, two thirds of the scallion and stir fry for 1 min.Then add in your prawns. Stir fry for 3mins.

Now add the fresh basil leaves, water chestnuts and sauce. Stir fry for a further 1-2mins until the leaves have shrivelled.

To plate, dish the prawn mixture into a bowl, garnish with the rest of the chopped scallion. Place it in the centre of a large plate. Surround the bowl with some baby gem lettuce leaves. Ready to serve.

Cook's notes

Thai basil is quite different to Italian basil, with real liquorice undertones — use the leaves only, pulled off their stalks, and add them right at the end.
Deseed the chillies if you don't want the dish too hot — leave the seeds in if you do.
Blitz the shallots, garlic and chilli until finely chopped but still with some texture; you want a rubble, not a paste.
Fry the blitzed aromatics about 2 minutes on medium until fragrant — do not let the garlic burn or turn too golden, or it goes bitter.
Groundnut oil is simply peanut oil, and it adds a mild nutty flavour that suits this dish.

Serve with Serve as a build-it-yourself starter with the lettuce cups to scoop, or bulk it into a meal with steamed jasmine rice. A cold beer or a crisp Riesling suits the fish sauce and chilli.

Make ahead & storage The prawn filling keeps a day in the fridge and reheats quickly in a hot pan, but assemble into the lettuce only just before eating so the leaves stay crisp.

20 MinutesAsian

Recipe by Eva Pau · From the series Eva Pau's Asian Kitchen S2 · Photography © Appetite Media
Published 13 July 2026 · Updated 15 July 2026

Nutrition

Per serving · estimated

189kcal

21gprotein

24gcarbs

2gfat

Approximate — calculated from the ingredient list using USDA food data. A guide, not a medical figure.

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