Japanese Amaebi and Fried Shrimp Heads

Ama ebi is the japanese word for "sweet shrimp." Since it's shrimp season and spot prawns are selling for about $9 CDN a pound, I figured I'd make some for mother's day dinner as an appetizer.
Some people enjoy these prawns super fresh. When the prawns are live and freshly peeled, they taste almost crunchy. When you let the prawns sit in the fridge overnight, peeled, the sugars in the prawns begin to develop and the prawns because more sweet and the texture becomes sort of "dewy". It's your personal preference, but because I bought these prawns on the day of the dinner, I didn't have the time to let the sugars develop the way that my family likes to enjoy it. I wouldn't recommend this recipe for the squeamish.

Ingredients:
2 lbs spot prawns, live
1/4 cup corn starch
1.5 tsp salt
1.5 tsp pepper

Method:
1. With a pair of rubber dishwashing gloves on, remove the head from the tails of the prawns.
2. Peel the prawns and throw them in some iced water (this gives the prawns a more "crunchy" texture, if that's what you like. If not, you can skip this step) Drain when ready to eat and server with wasabi and soy sauce.
3. Heat some canola oil to approximately 375 degrees. At the last minute, toss the shrimp heads into a mixture of corn starch, salt, and pepper.
4. Drop the shrimp heads carefully into the hot oil and fry for about 2 minutes. Remove the heads from the oil and drain briefly on some paper towels.
5. Serve the shrimp heads hot and crunchy. Pretty much the whole head except for the purple sack behind the "nose" of the shrimp can be eaten... even the legs!

Indian Chicken Biryani

I recently found a recipe for chicken biryani on www.indobase.com and decided to try it. It turned out REALLY good. I would definately make this again. Check out the recipe at http://www.indobase.com/recipes/details/chicken-biryani.php or I've pasted it below for you. I did not have saffron nor rose water, and it tasted perfectly fine without it, so I wouldn't stress on those details too much. Ingredients:
• 1 kg Chicken (pieces) • 500 gm Basmati Rice (washed and soaked for 30 min) • 4 tbsp Garam Masala (whole) • 4 tsp Garam Masala Powder • 50 gm Butter • 4 tsp Garlic (chopped) • 1 cup Onions (sliced) • 4 tsp Ginger (chopped) • 3 tsp Red Chili Powder • 1 tbsp Coriander Powder • 5 tbsp Oil • 2 tsp Turmeric Powder • 2 cup Curd (yogurt) • 3/4 cup Tomato (chopped) • 4 Bay Leaves For the marinade : • 1-1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder • 2 tsp Ginger (chopped) • 2 tsp Garlic (chopped) • 1 tsp Garam Masala Powder • 1 tsp Turmeric Powder • 1 cup Yoghurt • Salt For garnishing: • 1/2 gm Saffron (dissolved in 1/2 cup milk) • 2 tbsp Rose Water
How to make Chicken Biryani:
• Put all the ingredients of the marinade in a bowl and mix well. • Add chicken pieces to it and leave for an hour. • Now boil water, add 1/2 of the whole garam masala, bay leaf, and rice in it. • Cook the rice until 3/4 th is done, drain and keep it aside. • Heat oil in a thick bottomed pan and add remaining whole garam masala. • Allow it to crackle, add sliced onions and cook it till light golden brown. • Add 1 tsp of the remaining garam masala and all the remaining ingredients, including tomatoes, but excluding rice. • Cook for 5 minutes, combine marinated chicken with it. • Cook until chicken is tender. • Place alternate layers of chicken and rice. • Now sprinkle saffron, remaining garam masala powder and butter in between the layers and on the top. • Carefully end it with the rice layer topped with saffron & rose water. • Cover and seal it with an aluminum foil. • Cook it further on low flame for 10-12 minutes. • Chicken Biryani is ready to serve.

Chinese Steamed Fresh Garlic Scallops

You may or may not have tried this at a chinese restaurant before, but it's SO easy and very worth trying at home. The garlic-y sauce that ends up in the bottom of the shell after cooking is great poured over noodles or rice as well.

Ingredients:
4-5 scallops, opened and cleaned (your fisherman will be glad to do this for you)
10 cloves of garlic, finely minced
1/2 tsp salt
1 mung bean thread bundle (they're usually tied in small fist sized bundles), soaked and soft
Canola oil, for frying

Method:
1. Heat some canola oil until approximately 375 degrees and fry half of the minced garlic. It helps to have a sieve to pick up all the garlic pieces when they turn golden brown. Approximately 30 seconds.
2. Mix the fried garlic with the raw garlic and add the half teaspoon of salt. The reason that I'm frying half of this is because the fried garlic becomes sweet and has a more mellow garlic-y flavour. And then the raw garlic adds a sharper, more pungent flavour to the scallops. This may seem like a lot of salt, but this salt is going to season all the scallops.
3. Spoon the garlic mixture on top of the scallops.
4. Place a few threads of mung bean noodles onto each scallop.
5. Place these scallops into a plate and then into a steamer. (I use a wok with a rack over the water). Steam for no more than 10 - 12 minutes, depending on the size of your scallops.
6. Serve hot.

Nem Nuong (Grill Pork Patties/Meatballs)

Ingredients:
2 lb pork (little fatty)
2 tbsp white sugar
5 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 onion, minced in food processor
2 tbsp fish sauce
salt and black pepper, to taste

Method:
1. I use 2 butcher knives to chop up the pork into a mince. The reason for this is that I found that when I made gyozas, I took the easy way out and bought ground pork. The meat ended up being somewhat dry and the texture was flat. When I made it with pork that I minced myself, the texture of the pork was moist, "bouncy", and much less flatlining.
2. Mix all the ingredients together and keep in the fridge overnight to marinade.
3. Form the pork into either meatballs, flat meatballs, or patties, as you like.
4. Fire up the barbecue and grill until the meat is cooked (depends on the form that you shaped the nem nuong into)
5. This is great served as a salad roll filling.