Sweet and Sour Prawns is a Chinese inspired Stir Fry Recipe with Vegetables. Succulent Shrimps with vegetables like bell peppers and cucumbers tossed in a sweet and tangy sauce can be enjoyed as a starter or a side dish.

A homemade stir fry is a lot easier because you can put it together in minutes with ingredients easily available in your kitchen pantries.

Succulent shrimps/prawns tossed in a sweet tangy sauce with colourful vegetables are a feast to the eye and comfort to the palette. This could be your go-to weeknight recipe on a busy day.

Making this restaurant-quality stir fry recipe at home is rather a breeze when you have the shrimps cleaned and deveined. The recipe calls for the shrimps to be deep-fried. This takes just 2 to 3 minutes and you have crispy prawns that you could also serve right away.

Simply toss these shrimps in sweet and sour sauce with the crunchy vegetables and you have a bowl of a healthy meal with proteins and fibers.

Serve Sweet and Sour Prawns hot with Stir Fry Noodles or rice and you are done with your weeknight dinner.

Sweet and Sour Shrimp Ingredients

SHRIMPS/PRAWNS. Use medium size prawns that come in a count of 15 to 16 in half a kg. Avoid the larger variety as we have to coat these with batter and deep fry them. A bite or two of each prawn is what were are looking for in this recipe.

VEGETABLES. Use colourful stir-fry vegetables of your choice – these also make a wonderful presentation. I like vegetables such as red and yellow bell pepper, carrots and cucumber. Cucumbers give a lovely crunch in this stir-fry and you must definitely include these.

CORNSTARCH. For making a batter for the prawns and also for thickening the sauce, I prefer cornstarch or cornflour.

SWEET AND SOUR SAUCE. The key to a perfect Sweet and Sour Prawns Stir Fry is the Sauce. A perfect sauce will make your recipe stand out. A quick and simple stir fry sauce that is sweet, sour and has a hint of spice is what we are looking for.

Sweet and Sour Sauce Ingredients

TOMATO KETCHUP. 4tbsp or 1/4 cup of good ketchup gives the sauce the much needed sweetness and tang. You could use the storebought or homemade tomato ketchup.

CHILLI SAUCE. The red and spicy chilli sauce that we generally use for our stir fry recipes works well. Use red chilli paste, if you do not have the sauce with you, though you can get this at any grocery shop. Chilli sauce is the only spice component in this sweet and sour sauce so do not skip it.

SOY SAUCE. The dark colour of the soy sauce tends to give the sweet and sour sauce a deep red colour. Half a teaspoon of soy sauce is enough to bring out the bright colour of the sauce, you must try it for yourself.

VINEGAR. Add a tablespoon or two of vinegar to give the Sweet Sauce the required Sourness. Any mild vinegar, or even apple cider works fine for this recipe. Adjust the quantity of vinegar to suit your taste.

SUGAR. Though tomato ketchup imparts sweetness to the sauce, I prefer to add a tbsp of white granulated sugar to balance the taste.

CORNSTARCH. I recommend that you use a little cornstarch slurry to thicken the sweet and sour sauce which would otherwise be runny. Adding cornstarch not only thickens the sauce but also gives it a lovely sheen.

How to make Sweet and Sour Prawns Stir Fry

This is a quick and easy stir fry recipe that involves two simple and easy steps. First is frying the shrimps/prawns that are coated with a simple batter. The second step is to prepare the Sweet and Sour Sauce and then toss in the raw vegetables and the fried shrimps.

A stir fry recipe cannot get easier than this Sweet and Sour Prawns with simple kitchen staples.

Frying the Prawns

Devein and wash the prawns well and then marinate them in a batter of egg, cornflour, and salt. Let the prawns rest in this batter for not more than 5 minutes. If you leave it longer the batter will get thinner and start peeling off while frying.

Deep fry the prawns in hot oil for only 2 minutes and remove them on an absorbent kitchen tissue.

I like to fry the shrimps twice in the same hot oil for another minute for a crispy coat. In this process, the shrimps do not absorb more oil but in fact, they turn out crispy. Frying the prawns a little longer will make them chewy.

If you have a bigger quantity of prawns, then I suggest that you fry them in two batches to avoid overcrowding the pot.

Now that you have the prawns fried, quickly proceed to make the Sweet and Sour Sauce.

Making the Sauce

In the same wok or pan, remove all the oil and retain only a teaspoon. Adding a little oil to the sauce will keep it glossy.

Add in the tomato ketchup and red chilli sauce. Stir fry for 30 seconds and add salt to taste, sugar and 1/4 cup of cornflour slurry. To make the cornflour slurry, dissolve a teaspoon of cornstarch into 1/4 cup of water. Keep stirring and let the sauce thicken.

Add Soy sauce and vinegar and stir on a medium to low flame.

Add water, approximately 1/4 cup depending on how thick or thin you want the sauce to be.

Add the vegetables and let them simmer in the sweet and sour sauce for a few minutes. The key is to retain the crunchiness of the vegetables, so don’t overcook them.

Finally, drop in the fried prawn and toss them well in the sauce along with the vegetables till they are well coated. Switch off the flame.

Sweet and Sour Prawns Stir Fry gets done in minutes. Serve them hot.

Serving Suggestions

Serve Sweet and Sour Prawns Stir Fry as an appetizer or as a side dish with noodles or rice. Best served hot.