The iconic Vietnamese dish of Chao Tom or sugar cane shrimp is simply richly flavoured shrimp paste wrapped around a piece of sugar cane. It combines the savoury umami flavours of seafood with the sweetness of sugar cane.
Ingredients:
- 1½ lbs/45 g raw shrimp
- 1/2 tablespoon sugar
- 3-4 teaspoons fish sauce
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 egg white, lightly whipped to a foam
- 2 teaspoons ground white pepper or equivalent in chopped chili
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil – sunflower oil, maize oil
- sugar cane, peeled and quartered into 8cm lengths
- pinch of salt
Preparation:
- Clean the shrimp under running cold water, remove the veins and dry the shrimp thoroughly between paper towels. .
- Put the shrimp, white pepper, garlic, vegetable oil in a food processor. Blitz to make a smooth paste.
- Put the shrimp paste in a medium sized bowl.
- Lightly whip the egg white with an electronic hand beater until foaming.
- Combine the shrimp paste with beaten egg white and mix well with a spoon or hand-held stirrer.
- Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes and then divide the shrimp paste into 4 or 5 equal portions.
- With oiled hands using some vegetable oil, wrap the shrimp paste around the sugar cane. Shape into a round block but leave between 1½ to 2 inches of the sugar cane exposed.
- To a wok of hot vegetable oil, add the sugar cane shrimps and deep fry until golden brown. Serve immediately.
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