Recipes › Mizuna › Mizuna and Prawn Stir-Fry with Ginger and Rice Wine
Mizuna and Prawn Stir-Fry with Ginger and Rice Wine
A quick, vibrant Cantonese-inspired stir-fry where mizuna is wilted just enough to keep its peppery bite alongside sweet, juicy prawns and a glossy ginger and rice wine sauce. The whole thing comes together in under 25 minutes and tastes genuinely fresh — the kind of weeknight dinner that makes you glad you grew something in the garden. Serve straight from the wok over steamed jasmine rice.
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Ingredients
- 200 g mizuna, washed, any very long stems trimmed
- 400 raw king prawns, peeled and deveinedor use large raw tiger prawns
- 2 tbsp sunflower oil
- 25 fresh root ginger, peeled and cut into fine matchsticks
- 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 4 spring onions, cut into 3cm lengths, white and green parts separated
- 3 tbsp Shaoxing rice wineor use dry sherry if unavailable
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp oyster sauceuse mushroom sauce for a pescatarian-strict version
- 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
- 1 tsp cornflour, mixed with 2 tbsp cold water
- ½ tsp dried chilli flakes (optional)
- 320 g jasmine rice, cooked according to packet instructions, to serve
Contains: cereals gluten, crustaceans, molluscs, sesame, soya, sulphites.
Method
- Mix together the soy sauce, oyster sauce, Shaoxing rice wine and the cornflour slurry in a small bowl. Set aside. Make sure your jasmine rice is already cooking or cooked before you start the stir-fry — it all moves fast once the wok is hot.About 2 min
- Get a wok over the highest heat your hob will give you and let it smoke for 90 seconds. Add the sunflower oil and swirl to coat. Add the ginger matchsticks and fry for 30 seconds, stirring constantly, until fragrant and just beginning to colour at the edges.About 2 min
- Add the garlic and the white parts of the spring onions. Stir-fry for a further 30 seconds. If using chilli flakes, add them now.About 1 min
- Add the prawns in a single layer as best you can. Leave them untouched for 45 seconds so they get some colour, then toss and cook for a further 1–2 minutes until they have just turned pink and opaque all the way through. Do not overcook — they will get a little more heat later.About 3 min
- Pour the sauce mixture into the wok and toss everything together. It will thicken within 30 seconds thanks to the cornflour. Add the mizuna all at once along with the green spring onion tops and toss vigorously for 60–90 seconds until the leaves are just wilted but still have some structure and colour. You want them soft enough to eat but not collapsed into a mush.About 2 min
- Remove from the heat immediately. Drizzle over the sesame oil, give one final toss, and serve straight away over steamed jasmine rice.About 2 min
Tips
- The single most important thing here is a screaming hot wok. If your kitchen fills with smoke when you add the oil, you are in the right place. A cool wok steams the prawns and turns the mizuna soggy.
- Pat the prawns thoroughly dry with kitchen paper before they go in — surface moisture is the enemy of good colour and it will make the sauce watery.
- Add the mizuna right at the end and keep the heat high. It wilts in under 2 minutes and should still have a faint peppery bite when it hits the bowl.
Ring the changes
- Swap the prawns for thin-sliced chicken breast — cook for 3–4 minutes in step 4 until fully cooked through, then proceed as written.
- For a fully vegan version, replace the prawns with 400g firm tofu (pressed and cubed), use mushroom sauce instead of oyster sauce, and ensure your soy sauce is vegan — the rest of the method stays the same.
Keeping it
This dish is best eaten immediately — the mizuna wilts further as it sits and the prawns toughen on reheating. If you do have leftovers, store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 day and reheat quickly in a hot wok with a splash of water.
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