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CEREAL PRAWNS RECIPE

Name: CEREAL PRAWNS RECIPE
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 500g (1.1 lb) Large prawns, shell-on, deveined through the shell with scissors; 1/2 tsp Fine sea salt; 1/4 tsp White pepper; 1 tbsp Cornstarch, for dusting prawns before frying; Neutral oil For deep or shallow frying the prawns, enough for 2cm depth in pan; 80g (1 cup) Nestum instant cereal powder OR rolled oats blended to a coarse flour; 2 tbsp Milk powder (full-fat, adds sweetness and helps the mixture turn golden); 1 tbsp Cornstarch (helps the mixture stay dry and crispy); 1 tsp White sugar; 1/4 tsp Fine sea salt; 60g (4 tbsp) Unsalted butter; 2 sprigs Fresh curry leaves, stems removed (approximately 20 to 25 leaves); 6 to 8 Dried red chilies, cut into 2cm pieces and seeds shaken out; 3 cloves Garlic, finely minced; 1 tsp Bird's eye chili, finely sliced (optional, for extra heat); 2 large Eggs, beaten well; 2 tbsp Neutral oil, for making the egg floss; 1 Lime, cut into wedges, for serving alongside(Optional); Steamed jasmine rice For serving

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Total 35m

Prep 15m

Cook 20m

Serves 4

Level medium

Cereal prawns is a Singapore and Malaysian zi char classic that looks deceptively simple and tastes like nothing else in Southeast Asian cooking. Crispy shell-on prawns tossed in a dry, buttery, golden mixture of toasted oats, curry leaves, dried chilies, and egg floss that coats every prawn in a fragrant, slightly crunchy, savory-sweet shell. The texture is the point. The oat coating stays dry and crispy for long enough that you eat it like a snack even though it's technically a main dish.

What is cereal prawns exactly?

Zi char, the Singaporean style of casual restaurant cooking where dishes are cooked to order in a wok over high heat, produced this dish sometime in the 1990s. The cereal in the name refers to Nestum, a brand of instant cereal powder made from wheat, oats, and corn that's used as the coating base. Nestum gives the dish its characteristic texture: fine, sandy, and dry enough to coat every surface without clumping or turning soggy. Outside Singapore, rolled oats or oat flour blended with a small amount of milk powder and cornstarch replicates the texture closely.

What does cereal prawns taste like?

Buttery and rich from the generous amount of butter the cereal toasts in. Fragrant from the curry leaves that crisp in the hot butter and release their aromatic oils. Mildly spicy from the dried chilies. Slightly sweet from the milk powder in the cereal. And intensely savory from the prawn shells themselves, which fry until golden and edible in the hot oil before the cereal coating goes on. Every element is working at the same time in every bite.

Why are the prawns cooked shell-on?

The shells are part of the eating experience. Fried at the right temperature, prawn shells turn crispy and edible, concentrating the prawn flavor on the exterior of each piece. Peeled prawns cooked the same way produce a dish that's soft and lacking the textural contrast that makes cereal prawns memorable. The shell-on approach also protects the prawn flesh from the high oil temperature and keeps it juicy inside while the shell crisps on the outside.

What is egg floss and does it matter?

Egg floss is beaten egg drizzled into hot oil and dragged with a fork into wispy, golden strands that are folded through the cereal mixture at the end. It adds a light, airy, slightly rich element that visually distinguishes cereal prawns from other fried dishes. Some zi char restaurants skip it. The dish is still good without it. With it, the texture is more interesting and the visual presentation looks closer to the restaurant version.

Ingredients

19 Items

Instructions

6 Steps

Prep and devein the prawns

Leave the shells on. Using sharp scissors, cut along the back of each prawn shell and pull out the dark digestive tract with a toothpick or the tip of a skewer. Rinse and pat completely dry with paper towels. Moisture on the prawn surface causes oil splatter and prevents the shell from crisping cleanly. Season with salt and white pepper, then dust lightly with cornstarch, shaking off excess. The cornstarch gives the shell a thin coating that crisps faster in the oil and helps the cereal mixture adhere better after frying.

Mix the cereal blend

If using rolled oats instead of Nestum, pulse them in a blender 6 to 8 times until they reach a coarse, sandy flour consistency. Some larger flakes remaining are fine. In a bowl, combine the oat flour or Nestum with milk powder, cornstarch, sugar, and salt. Mix thoroughly. The milk powder is not optional for flavor. It adds the slight sweetness and the golden browning that makes the cereal coating taste distinctly like cereal prawns rather than just fried oats. Set aside.

Fry the prawns

Heat neutral oil in a wok or deep pan to 180 degrees C. The oil should be deep enough for the prawns to be at least half submerged. Fry the prawns in batches, not all at once. Crowding the oil drops the temperature and the shells steam rather than crisp. Fry each batch for 2 to 3 minutes until the shells turn pink, crispy, and golden at the edges. The shells should look blistered and dry rather than soft and wet. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a wire rack. Do not use paper towels. The steam trapped under the prawns on paper towels softens the shell within seconds.

Make the egg floss

Heat 2 tablespoons of neutral oil in a clean wok over medium-high heat until shimmering. Pour the beaten eggs slowly into the hot oil in a thin, steady stream while simultaneously using a fork or chopsticks to drag the setting egg into thin, wispy strands. Work quickly. The egg sets fast in the hot oil. Pull the strands upward and outward as they form to create long, airy wisps rather than flat scrambled egg. Remove as soon as the floss is golden and dry, about 60 to 90 seconds. Drain on a wire rack and set aside. The egg floss needs to stay crispy so it holds its texture when folded through the cereal at the end.

Toast the cereal in butter

Wipe the wok clean. Melt the butter over medium heat. Add the dried chili pieces and curry leaves to the melting butter. The curry leaves will spit aggressively as their moisture hits the hot fat. Stand back briefly. Fry for 60 seconds until the curry leaves turn crispy and fragrant and the chilies are slightly darker. Add the minced garlic and stir for 30 seconds. Add the cereal mixture to the butter and aromatics. Stir continuously over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes until the cereal turns golden, smells toasted and nutty, and every grain is coated in the fragrant butter. The mixture should look dry, golden, and sandy rather than wet or clumped.

Combine and finish

Add the fried prawns to the toasted cereal mixture in the wok. Toss vigorously for 60 seconds until every prawn is coated in the golden cereal and the coating clings to the shells. Fold the egg floss through the mixture gently with a spatula, taking care not to crush it. The egg floss should stay in visible wisps distributed through the dish rather than crumbling into the coating. Taste and adjust salt if needed. Plate immediately and serve with jasmine rice and lime wedges alongside.

Nutrition Facts

Per Serving

431.6kcal Calories approx.

protein 66%

32.8g

sodium 37%

858.8mg

cholesterol 100%

317mg

Vitamin D 3%

0.6mcg

Calcium 10%

98mg

Iron 18%

3.3mg

Potassium 6%

296.5mg

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

What every cook needs to know about cereal prawns

Why does the cereal mixture need to be toasted in butter and not oil?

Butter contains milk solids that brown through the Maillard reaction as the cereal toasts, producing a richer, more complex, slightly nutty flavor that neutral oil can't replicate. The milk powder in the cereal mixture amplifies this further. The combination of butter and milk powder is what gives cereal prawns their characteristic butterscotch-adjacent richness that distinguishes the dish from other fried prawn preparations. Some zi char restaurants use a combination of butter and margarine for a slightly different flavor and higher smoke point. Butter alone is the best home kitchen version.

Why do curry leaves matter so much in this dish?

Fresh curry leaves fried in hot butter release aromatic compounds, specifically carbazole alkaloids and volatile terpenes, that are specific to the leaf and don't exist in any other ingredient. The flavor is simultaneously citrusy, herby, and slightly medicinal in the best way. In cereal prawns, the curry leaves crisp in the butter and their aromatic oils infuse the entire butter base that the cereal toasts in. Every grain of cereal picks up that curry leaf character. Dried curry leaves are significantly less aromatic and produce a noticeably weaker result. Fresh or frozen curry leaves from an Indian or Southeast Asian grocery store are the correct choice.

What is Nestum and where can you find it?

Nestum is Nestle's brand of instant cereal powder, a blend of wheat, corn, and oats processed into a fine, slightly sweet, sandy powder. It's sold at most Asian grocery stores in Singapore, Malaysia, and internationally wherever Southeast Asian products are stocked. If unavailable, the rolled oats blended with milk powder and cornstarch substitute described in the ingredients gives a texture that's close enough that most people can't distinguish the finished dish from a Nestum version. The milk powder in the substitute is doing the work of replicating the sweetness and browning that Nestum's grain blend provides naturally.

Can you make cereal prawns without deep frying the prawns first?

The prawns can be pan-fried in a shallow layer of oil rather than deep-fried. Heat oil to a 1 to 2cm depth in a wide pan, fry the prawns 2 minutes per side over high heat, and proceed as normal. The shells won't crisp as uniformly as with deep frying but the result is still good. What doesn't work is skipping the pre-fry entirely and adding raw prawns directly to the cereal mixture. The prawns won't cook through evenly in the time it takes the cereal to toast and the shells stay soft rather than crispy.

How do you keep cereal prawns crispy for serving?

Cereal prawns lose their crispiness relatively quickly once plated because the moisture from the prawn flesh migrates outward into the coating over time. Serve immediately after combining the prawns and cereal. Don't cover the plated dish, which traps steam. If making for a larger group, keep the fried prawns warm on a wire rack in a low oven at 100 degrees C and toss with the cereal mixture in the last 2 minutes before serving rather than assembling the whole dish in advance.

Cereal prawns is a Singapore and Malaysian zi char dish of crispy shell-on prawns tossed in a buttery mixture of toasted oat cereal, curry leaves, dried chilies, garlic, and egg floss. The cereal coating stays dry and crispy and coats every prawn in a fragrant, buttery, slightly sweet shell. It was developed in Singaporean zi char restaurants in the 1990s and uses Nestum instant cereal powder as the traditional coating base.

Nestum is Nestle's brand of instant cereal powder made from wheat, corn, and oats, commonly used in Singapore and Malaysian cooking for cereal prawns. If unavailable, blend rolled oats to a coarse flour in a food processor and combine with 2 tablespoons of full-fat milk powder and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch per 80g of oat flour. The milk powder replicates the sweetness and browning properties of Nestum. The substitute produces a result close enough to the original that most people can't distinguish it in the finished dish.

The shells fry to a crispy, golden, edible layer that concentrates prawn flavor on the exterior and protects the flesh from the high oil temperature, keeping it juicy inside. Shell-on prawns also hold the cereal coating better than peeled prawns. The crispy shell is part of the texture of the dish and eating it whole is the intended experience. Removing the shells before cooking produces a softer, less textured result that loses the contrast that makes cereal prawns distinctive.

Egg floss is beaten egg drizzled in a thin stream into hot oil while being dragged with a fork or chopsticks into wispy, golden, airy strands. It's made by heating oil in a wok over medium-high heat, pouring the beaten egg slowly while simultaneously pulling the setting egg upward and outward with a fork to create long strands before they fully set. The floss is removed when golden and dry, about 60 to 90 seconds. It adds a light, airy, slightly rich texture to cereal prawns and is the visual element that distinguishes the dish from a simple fried prawn coating.

Yes. The same cereal mixture and technique works with squid rings, scallops, soft shell crab, and firm white fish cubes. Adjust frying time based on the seafood. Squid rings take 2 minutes at 180 degrees C. Scallops take 90 seconds per side in a hot pan rather than deep-fried. Soft shell crab takes 3 to 4 minutes in deep oil. The butter, curry leaf, and cereal toasting step is identical regardless of the protein.

Serve immediately after tossing the prawns in the cereal mixture. Don't cover the plated dish. Make sure the prawns are thoroughly drained and at least partially cooled on a wire rack, not paper towels, before tossing in the cereal so residual steam doesn't soften the coating from the inside. The cereal mixture must be fully toasted and dry before the prawns go in. Wet or undertoasted cereal absorbs moisture from the prawns within minutes of combining.

Recipe By

Elena Marchetti

Elena Marchetti is a recipe editor at RoamFeast, developing and editing recipes from around the world for home cooks. She focuses on accurate quantities, clear step-by-step methods and dishes that work in a normal home kitchen, with details checked before publication.