Father-daughter duo Kathy and Peter Fang—the chef/owners of San Francisco's iconic Fang and House of Nanking restaurants, respectively, are the stars of the hit docuseries "Chef Dynasty: House of Fang."
Peter moved from Shanghai to San Francisco in 1980 and opened House of Nanking eight years later, serving many of his mother's own homestyle dishes, which were a big hit. Kathy grew up in the restaurant, learning from him, and eventually opened her own place. No surprise, she focused on the same type of food. "It's like this Fang gene!" she says.
Here, they share their "famous" Hong Kong-style stir-fried prawns in a sweet and sour sauce, which they like to serve with their Egg Fried Rice with Romaine Lettuce.
"My dad taught me how to eat seafood like a pro. Seafood is both my dad and my favorite protein and our Lunar New Year feasts back in the day would cover everything you could imagine. Prawns, crab, lobster, abalone, jellyfish, whole fish all in one dinner!! Prawns are also symbolic for the Lunar New Year. You want to eat them because they symbolize happiness and liveliness." —Kathy
Pro Tips:
—If the sauce is runny, add a slurry (equal parts water and cornstarch) to bring it all together.
—Make extra sauce and store it in the fridge for up to a week for other uses. It's great on chicken, fish and tofu. You can also use it as a dipping sauce.
—Instead of tiger prawns, use smaller prawns, and more of them, if your heat source isn't strong (electric stoves or smaller burners). That will cut down the cooking time and help ensure more tender flesh. Just be sure to use prawns with the shell on for the best flavor and results. You don't need to butterfly smaller prawns, though, so when removing the black vein, cut a shallower incision.
Catch the finale of "Chef Dynasty: House of Fang" on Food Network on Tuesday at 9 PM. The entire series is also streaming on Discovery Plus.
For the sauce, in a small bowl, stir together ketchup, jam, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and sesame oil until smooth, then set aside.
For the prawns, create an incision down the back of each prawn, remove the black vein and butterfly the prawn, pressing down on it to open up the body.
Heat a wok or large nonstick saute pan over high heat with the cooking oil. Sear prawns on both sides, then reduce the heat to medium, add the mirin and continue to stir-fry until prawns are about 70 percent done; this will take about 6 minutes.
Raise the heat to high, add the sauce and stir-fry to evenly coat. Let prawns cook in the sauce for 2 minutes to absorb flavor. Serve garnished with the ginger and scallions.