Rissois de Camarão
Portugal's snack-bar half-moon: a thin pot-cooked dough wrapped around a creamy béchamel-bound prawn filling, breaded and deep-fried.
Overview
Rissois are the half-moon prawn fritters you'd see in the glass cabinet of every Lisbon snack bar, sold a couple at a time with a paper napkin. The dough is unusual, closer to a hot-water pastry than a normal flour-and-fat dough: you bring water, butter, lemon zest and salt to a boil, dump the flour in all at once, and stir hard until it pulls into a smooth elastic ball. Tip it onto a floured bench, roll paper-thin, cut into discs, then fill each with a spoonful of quick prawn-and-béchamel mixture, fold into a half-moon and crimp the edges. The béchamel needs to be properly cold before you fill, otherwise the dough won't hold its shape. Once they're breaded and frying they cook fast: two minutes a side until amber and crisp. Eat them warm, ideally with a chilled vinho verde.
Ingredients
Dough
- 250 ml water
- 30 g unsalted butter
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 lemon (zest)
- 200 g plain flour (sifted)
Filling
- 30 g unsalted butter
- 30 g plain flour
- 250 ml whole milk
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon white pepper
- A grating of nutmeg
- 300 g cooked peeled prawns (small or medium; chopped fine)
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley (chopped fine)
- 1 lemon (zest)
- 1 shallot (small, very finely diced, sautéed 3 min in 1 teaspoon butter, optional)
Breading
- 100 g plain flour (for dredging)
- 2 eggs (large, beaten with 1 tablespoon milk)
- 200 g fine dried breadcrumbs (panko works for extra crisp)
For frying
- 1 litre vegetable oil
To serve
- Lemon wedges
- A dish of piri-piri (small, or hot sauce)
- Black olives, sliced pickled chillies
Method
Stage 1 - Dough
- In a saucepan, combine water, butter, salt and lemon zest.
- Bring to a rolling boil over medium heat.
- Reduce to medium; tip in flour all at once.
- Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon for 90 seconds until you have a smooth shiny dough that pulls cleanly from the pan walls.
- Tip onto a lightly floured surface.
- Knead briefly while still warm (be careful - it's hot) until smooth and pliable.
- Cover with cling film; cool to room temperature.
Stage 2 - Filling
- Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Whisk in flour; cook 1 minute (roux).
- Slowly whisk in the milk; cook 4 minutes, whisking, until the béchamel thickens to a very thick paste - should be much thicker than a standard sauce.
- Add salt, white pepper, nutmeg.
- Off heat; stir in chopped prawns, parsley, lemon zest, and sautéed shallot (if using).
- Cool fully (warm filling tears the dough).
Stage 3 - Roll and cut
- Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface to 2-3 mm thick.
- Cut out 8 cm rounds (a small bowl or biscuit cutter).
- Re-roll scraps once.
Stage 4 - Fill and seal
- Place a heaped teaspoon of cool filling on half of each round.
- Fold over into a half-moon.
- Press the edges together; crimp with a fork.
Stage 5 - Bread
- Set up three plates: flour, beaten egg, breadcrumbs.
- Dredge each rissoi in flour (shake off excess), dip in egg (let drip), roll in breadcrumbs.
- For an extra-crisp crust: double-bread (egg again, breadcrumb again).
- Place on a tray.
Stage 6 - Chill
- Refrigerate the breaded rissois 15 minutes (helps the crust adhere during frying).
Stage 7 - Fry
- Heat oil to 175°C.
- Fry 4-5 rissois at a time, 2 minutes per side, until deep amber-gold.
- Lift onto kitchen paper.
Stage 8 - Serve
- Pile on a warm platter.
- Lemon wedges, olives, pickled chillies.
- Eat warm - within 10 minutes is best.
Notes
- Dough must be pliable while warm: This is a hot-water dough (like for empanadas). Work while still warm - once cooled fully, it can crack when rolled. If it cools, gently warm in the microwave 10 seconds.
- Cool the filling fully: Béchamel-based filling that's still warm will tear the soft dough during folding. Cool to room temperature minimum.
- Double-bread for extra crisp: A second pass through egg + breadcrumbs gives the iconic crackly amber shell. Skip if you prefer a thinner crust.
Storage
- Best within 30 minutes of frying.
- Breaded uncooked rissois freeze 2 months on a tray; fry from frozen at 165°C 4-5 minutes per side.
- Cooked: refrigerate 2 days; re-crisp at 200°C 5 minutes.
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