Served wtih sweet chilli lemon myrtle dipping sauce – jasmin rice

Serves 4 – 2 per person

The art of this dish is in the packing, oil the best hand, hold the cut sugar cane in the other, pick up a handful of prawn mixture and wrap it onto the cane, don’t get to much oil mixed in, smooth it off and well you’ll get the hang of it!

Ochre Catering has done this dish at several Pt. Douglas Food and Wine Festivals serving about 400 in a couple of hours – it’s a great party food and fun to eat, don’t forget to suck all the juice from that cane.

This dish was selected to represent TNQ at TASTING AUSTRALIA in Adelaide in October 1999 serving 3000 serves in 2 days from the Tastes of the Tropics Stand. It is also included in the recently released Dining High Cookbook produced by Ansett for their 50th anniversary, Making the front cover.

Sugarcane Prawn Stick
Sugar Cane grows all around me in Tropical Queensland, but obviously not in 75% of Australia, check with your best Greengrocer, there is even Organic cane grown near Innisfail TNQ. You need to wash then cut the cane in 6 to 8 inch lengths and then split into 4 sticks per length.

Recipe
600gms Prawn Meat – Gulf of Carpenteria
5 gms Sambal Oelek – Asian Foods Australia – Cairns
30mls Sesame Oil
2 shallots – chopped – Innisfail
1 tbsp salt and pepper
10gms coriander – chopped – Innisfail
2 egg whites – Yamagishi Eggs – NQ

Puree all ingredients together in food processor until coarsely bound.
Pack onto sugar cane sticks as per above instructions.

Sweet chilli lemon myrtle dipping sauce
1 Lt water
250gms sugar – Bundaberg sugar
200 mls rice wine vinegar
100 mls fish sauce
2 large green chillies – sliced finely
30 gms ginger – julienne
20 mls soya sauce
25 fresh lemon myrtle leaves – julienne – grows throughout Queensland
Simmer all ingredients for 10 minutes then thicken slightly with cornflour

To Serve
Barbecue Prawn sticks on a BBQ flat plate until just cooked [don't over cook]- serve with jasmin rice and
Sweet chilli sauce – garnish with sliced shallots.

Courtesy Craig Squire – Ochre Restaurant Cairns