Vietnamese Pumpkin flowers stuffed with prawn (bong bi don thit) 越式鑲南瓜花

I tried to order this stuffed pumpkin flowers with prawn when we were taking dinner at one of the restaurant at Ho Chi Minh but it was out of stock. Before return home, I was happy to find this edible pumpkin flowers at a wet market nearby hotel, so I brought back some to try out.

This was the first time I enjoyed a cuisine using edible flowers..It seem quite hard to find pumpkin flowers at our pasar (market) here ..

Frankly, it was hard to detect the pumpkin flower aroma..

Vietnamese Pumpkin flowers stuffed with prawn (bong bi don thit)

12 pumpkin flowers, stems intact with stamen removed

Filling ingredients
115g prawns paste
100g fish paste
Dill, chopped ( I replaced with spring onions)
1/2tsp fish sauce
1/2tsp salt or to taste
1/2tsp sugar
Freshly crushed black pepper

Crispy batter- refer to recipe here

Method

1.     Mix all filling ingredients till thick paste.

2.     Take a tablespoon of paste and carefully stuff each pumpkin flower.

3.     Coat each flower with crispy batter.

4.     Heat oil in a wok, deep fry flowers in batches over medium low heat until crisp and golden brown, place on absorbent paper towel.

5.     Serve hot.

Recipe inspired by : here, by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover