YummY!
Jotaro's Food Review
CUCUR UDANG PRAWN FRITTERS @ KUALA KURAU
Kuala Kurau, Perak, Malaysia - September 2014
Kuala Kurau has a renown good food - their Cucur Udang (Prawn Fritters). We were on a cycling adventure in northern Perak, heard about it and of course wanted to try it. Our attempts in enquiring the locals about this place were unsuccessful until we met a couple of friendly guys from the Kuala Kurau Cycling Club.
They led us to the place via crossing a pedestrian bridge over to the other side of Sungai Kurau river, and then through narrow village roads to a coffee-shop next to a temple. It was with anticipation and an eager stomachs when we reached the place.
The Cucur Udang are served in plates of four with each piece cut into quarters.
Strangely, it came with a plated of pre-boiled yellow noodles. That's odd...
The fritters came; and they do look good. The ones here were much thicker than others that I have tried. Scrumptiously looking, with a nicely fried crispy golden-brown crust, and a soft, slightly moist inside.
The crust although wafer-thin, is crispy on the outside with a little coating of cooked soft batter inside. They are filled with short strips of turnips, spring onions and of course prawns.
You must be asking. "What's with the yellow noodles?"
It's the local style of eating prawn fritters, wrap them in oodles of noodles...
... and then dip them into the locally made chilli sauce. The sauce is just slightly sweet and thus does not mask the flavour of the fritters.
And then just plop the whole bundle in and slowly munch.
The turnips are so fresh that they still retain a certain amount of crispiness, the spring onions add a tinge of flavour and somewhere in there the prawns(with heads peeled off but still in their shells) gave a crunchy, prawny taste.
...OH..... MY.....
Simple and yet heavenly.
The riverside setting adds to the atmosphere, a distance away boats are seen moored behind the timber houses. Slightly further away, the road bridge spans majestically over the blue waters.
The nearby Chinese temple...
... with colourful dragons sitting atop the roof.
Okay.... time to do my job as a blogger; time to see how they make the fritters.
The fritters are prepared by these two ladies at an open kitchen beside the shop. Roofing is provided by a lean-to shed.
The ingredients are simple -
1. Short cut slices of turnips and spring onions.
2. Fresh small white-shell prawns with heads peeled of but skin still intact. These are soft shelled small prawns, the shells after cooking are slightly crunchy and adds to the eating experience.
3. Wheat flour batter with a pinch of salt added.
The vegetables and prawns are put onto a ladle and a scoop of batter is added. The batter's consistency is adequately thin for it to flow in between the ingredients.
A close-up look at the ingredients in a ladle before batter is added. The prawns are added on top, so when cooked the will be at the bottom of the fritter.
After the batter is added, the whole mixture is dipped into a wokful of hot oil. One lady adds the mix in while another turns the cooking fritters with a long tweezers to make sure that they are evenly cooked.
The cooked fritters a left at a top section for excess oil to drain out. These fritters are served fresh from the wok - now wonder we found them crunchy and the ingredients fresh.
Another nearby shop sells very good seafood curry noodles. Its full of seafood - cockles, squid, shrimps. It includes dried pork skin; but no tau pok.
AND THE BONUS...
Superb iced coffee; thick and frothy. One of the best I have tasted.
The locals says it's even better than those from the Western-style coffee bars and I tend to agree with them.
Update September 2016:
1. This place have grown leaps & bounds and there are many food stalls here near the temple, including another prawn fritter stall which is together with other food stalls. The ORIGINAL STALL is set about 10m away from the temple and business is brisk for them, often their are long queues with a wait of up to 1/2 an hour. It's better to queue and self-deliver. Also, listed below is their telephone number, calling up to pre-order would reduce the queueing time.
2. The coffee seems to have dropped in quality and is not so nice now.
KUALA KURAU PRAWN FRITTERS (CUCUR UDANG)
205, Bagan Seberang, 34350 Kuala Kurau, Perak, Malaysia.
Tel: +605-7278171 | Mobile: +6017-5835139
Hours: 11:00am to 6:00pm
(This GPS coordinates is as close to the original stall and not the GPS for the coffee shop)
