Prawn and Peanut crackers is a local snack that is a variant of the home made Malay keropok (crackers). It isn’t actually made with prawns (shrimp) but ikan bilis
(a small indigenous fish fry that has been dried and salted). It’s just
what we call these crackers (YMMV). The crackers are about the size of
a 3 inch CD.
The crackers are made by DIY (a small Kuching cottage industry) and retails for RM 1.30 at most coffee shops. One packet of the crackers contains about six pieces, which makes the price per cracker at slightly above 20 cents (MYR). The cracker usually has one intact fish fry and several peanuts embedded into the cracker itself.
This is what the crackers look like up close – the ikan bilis and peanuts is placed on the chilli infused batter base before the deep frying treatment, producing this effect. It’s a favorite snack in our office. The crackers taste like spicy keropok before the salty ikan bilis tang starts to shine through as the cracker is munched, with the experience ending on a nice aromatic roasted peanuts note.
It contains very basic ingredients, but it’s executed so well that the whole is better than the sum of its parts. It’s also home made, so that means no preservatives. 🙂
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