My prawns in black bean sauce is a 5-minute wok stir-fry with fermented black beans, ginger, garlic, capsicum and a cornflour-thickened oyster and soy sauce.
Category
Dinner
Servings
1
Prep time
30 minutes
Cook time
10 minutes
Prawns is one of my favourite proteins to cook with because its delicious, really good for you and you can buy a big bag and freeze them. So this recipe is just for one person, so using a protein like prawns is very easy to portion just for yourself or scale it up to feed a family.
What is black bean sauce?
Black bean sauce gets its character from preserved black beans which are salted and fermented soybeans that are intensely savoury, slightly funky, and soft enough to partially dissolve into the sauce as it cooks.
In this stir-fry they go in with ginger, garlic, and spring onion in a hot wok, then a cornflour-thickened sauce mixture goes in and tightens everything around the prawns in under a minute. It’s a 5-minute cook once everything is prepped.
The beans need a short soak before cooking, 30 minutes to an hour, to draw out excess salt and soften them. Keep a tablespoon of the soaking liquid as it carries fermented flavour and goes back into the sauce. The other thing that makes or breaks this dish is wok heat. The capsicum, ginger, and garlic need to hit a very hot surface fast. A warm pan steams everything and you lose the seared, slightly charred edge that a proper stir-fry should have.
Ingredient Notes
Preserved black beans: Salted and fermented soybeans, sold in bags or jars at Asian grocery stores. They’re intensely savoury and the base flavour of the entire dish. Always soak them before using as they can be very salty straight from the packet. Don’t discard the soaking liquid: a tablespoon of it goes back into the sauce.
Shaoxing wine: A fermented Chinese rice wine that adds depth and a subtle savoury sweetness when it hits the hot wok. It deglazes the pan and lifts the caramelised bits from the capsicum. Dry sherry is the closest substitute. Mirin also works but it’s sweeter, so use a little less.
Peanut oil: Has a high smoke point, which makes it well suited to wok cooking where the oil needs to handle very high heat without burning. Vegetable or sunflower oil are fine substitutes if you don’t have peanut oil on hand.
Equipment
- Wok or large frying pan
- Chopping board
- Chef’s knife
- Small bowl (for soaking beans)
- Small bowl (for sauce)
- Ladle or wok spatula
- Serving bowl
Ingredients
- ¼ cup (30g) preserved black beans
- 2 tbsp peanut oil
- ½ green capsicum (bell pepper), cut into chunks
- 2 spring onions, white and green part separated
- 2 tsp Shaoxing wine
- 250g prawns, peeled
- thumb-sized piece fresh ginger, thin julienne
- 2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
-
Steamed rice, to serve
- 2 tsp light soy sauce
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- ½ tsp caster sugar
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- ½ cup (125ml) water
Sauce
Directions
Soak the beans in a small bowl of cold water for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Drain, reserving 1 tbsp of soaking liquid and set aside.
- Slice the white of the spring onions into chunks, then slice the green ends thinly.
- Mix the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl, until smooth.
- Heat the oil in a wok over high heat.
Cook the capsicum, tossing, for 2 minutes, until softened. Pour in the Shaoxing wine and toss to deglaze pan.
- Add the spring onion whites and prawns, cook for a further minute, tossing.
- Stir in the ginger, garlic and black beans, continue cooking for 1 minute.
- Stir in sauce mixture and reserved bean soaking liquid, bring to a boil, stirring until sauce thickens.
- Remove from the heat and stir through the greens of spring onions.
- Serve immediately on steamed rice.
Recipe video
Recipe notes
Chef Tips
Get the wok hot first
Heat the wok over high heat until it just starts to smoke, then add the oil and swirl to coat. At that temperature the capsicum takes 2 minutes to soften and pick up a little colour. In a warm pan it just sits and releases water, and the whole dish turns soggy. The smoke is the signal that the wok is ready.
Pull the wok off the heat the moment the sauce thickens
The prawns go in at the same time as the spring onion whites and take about 1 minute of tossing before the sauce goes in. Once the sauce has thickened and coated everything, the dish is done. Every extra second on the heat tightens the prawns further. Overcooked prawns are rubbery and there’s no fixing it, so pull the wok off as soon as the sauce has come together.
Storage
Best eaten immediately. The prawns tighten up and the sauce thickens to a paste as it cools, and neither reheats well. If you have leftovers, store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 day and reheat quickly in a hot wok or pan with a small splash of water to loosen the sauce.
FAQs
Can I swap out the prawns? Yes. Chicken, squid, or firm tofu all work well with this sauce. Chicken will need 3-4 minutes in the wok rather than 1, and squid about 45-60 seconds. Tofu is best pressed and dried first so it sears rather than steams.
Do I need a wok? It helps. The shape of a wok concentrates heat at the base and lets you toss ingredients without losing them over the sides. A large, heavy frying pan over high heat works as a substitute. Just keep everything moving and don’t overcrowd the pan.
What if I don’t have Shaoxing wine? Dry sherry is the closest substitute in terms of flavour and dryness. Mirin also works but it’s considerably sweeter, so use about half the quantity and keep an eye on the overall sweetness of the finished sauce.
