Today, we’re tackling one of the most addictive shrimp dishes out there:
my dad’s salt & pepper shrimp.
From preparing the tasty dry seasoning to deep-frying the shrimp,
my dad’s gonna show us how to make
a restaurant quality dish right at home.
First, we’ll start by learning
how to prepare the shrimp for maximum flavor.
Salt & Pepper Shrimp is actually quite simple.
Now, let's prepare the shrimp.
Usually, we don't use very large shrimp for Salt & Pepper Shrimp,
but I have rather large shrimp today.
Smaller shrimp cook faster.
I have 14 oz of large shrimp here.
About 30 pieces per pound.
In the US, shrimp are sold by the amount in a pound.
Our shrimp today is 26/30,
which means that there are 26-30 shrimp in a pound,
which is considered extra large.
If you prefer smaller shrimp,
you would get those with bigger numbers.
If you’re looking for sustainable seafood options,
make sure to reference
the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s “Seafood Watch” website.
We’ll start with deveining the shrimp.
Devein the shrimp.
Sometimes it's white, not dark.
Using a toothpick, we’ll prick into
the middle back of the shrimp between segments
and lift up, removing the vein.
They don't devein shrimp at restaurants,
they just fry the shrimp whole.
Do you have to clean it?
It's better to clean it when you're eating it yourself.
After deveining the shrimp,
I'll cut off the legs and antennae.
Cut it right here,
just below the eyes.
For each shrimp,
we’ll cut off the front part of the head and the legs.
Cut the legs too.
Then it's easy and neat to eat.
Restaurants won't cut it like this for you.
You can choose to cut the tail or not.
I like to make them look nice.
I'll cut out a nice triangle like this.
Like a phoenix-tailed shrimp.
My dad also likes to cut the tail at an angle
to create a nicer shape,
which is called a phoenix tail shape.
We’ll repeat these steps with the rest of our shrimp.
Can you purchase deveined and cleaned shrimp?
You can get head-off shrimp.
Is it as tasty?
Those are tasty, too.
Some people like to eat shrimp heads, though.
Shrimp heads are delicious.
Do you always prefer the head on?
Traditional Salt & Pepper Shrimp does have the head on.
Restaurant Salt & Pepper Shrimp is always head-on.
Lots of people do this:
twist the heads off and fry them separately.
Those shrimp heads are even tastier.
How do you fry the head?
Heads off, add cornstarch, fry in oil.
Fry it the same way!
Since we have large shrimp today,
I'll cut a shallow slit in the middle.
Flavor will penetrate better,
and they'll be easier to peel.
Are you just cutting the shell?
Yes, shell and meat.
Like this.
It cuts into the meat as well, right?
Just a shallow cut down the middle.
Start behind the head,
and then cut all the way down to the tail.
You don't have to do this with smaller shrimp.
It's a bit more effort
for tastier shrimp that's easy to eat.
With these larger shrimp,
my dad cuts the back of the shell from head to tail
so it cooks quicker
and the flavor can penetrate better.
It may be easier and safer to do with a smaller knife,
like a fruit knife.
For more comprehensive lessons on knife technique and safety,
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We’ll continue cutting the shells of the rest of our shrimp.
"Why cook these with the shell on
if you're going to peel them to eat them anyways?"
Having the shell protecting the meat of the shrimp
keeps the juiciness from cooking out.
And when you fry it, it's much more aromatic.
If you fry them peeled,
then you miss out on the aromas of the shrimp shell.
Shrimp shells have intense flavor.
Also, shrimp looks much prettier with the shell on.
We'll pat them dry.
Otherwise, they'll splatter later.
Use a towel or paper towel to pat them dry.
Pat them dry.
We’ll dry the shrimp with a kitchen or paper towel here.
When we fry these, they won't splatter and pop.
Now, we'll use a bit of garlic salt.
1/2 tsp of garlic is enough.
Season it.
We’ll toss the shrimp with the garlic salt,
then add some cornstarch.
Then, coat it with starch.
2 tsp.
More starch will make it crispier.
We’ll add in a bit of cornstarch at a time,
while tossing,
to make sure that each shrimp is covered well.
This is why eating shrimp is considered good luck,
especially during Lunar New Year.
In Cantonese, shrimp is pronounced haa
a homophone of laughter, or haa.
Like many other Chinese dishes with symbolic word-play,
eating shrimp symbolizes a year full of laughter and happiness.
Does this dish have any symbolism?
Sounds like haha for laughter, happiness.
Laughing, ha ha ha!
It means happiness!
Usually, banquets always have this dish.
Today, we’re preparing the shrimp
in the classic Cantonese salt & pepper style
which is often a main dish served during banquets.
In Chinese take-out restaurants,
salt & pepper style dishes are wildly popular appetizers
featuring other proteins
like squid, fish, chicken and tofu.
The beauty of shrimp is that it tells you when it’s cooked
with a natural color change,
which will be useful when we fry them later.
But first, we’ll see how my dad prepares the other crucial ingredients.
This is an onion.
I don't want to use the entire onion,
so I'll cut off just part of it to use.
This way, the remaining onion is still rather whole,
and easy to cook with later.
Cut this into thin strips first.
We’ll first cut the red onion into strips.
Then, small pieces.
Then rotate 90 degrees to roughly dice.
Set it here.
We also only need part of this red bell pepper.
Then we’ll cut out about a fourth of a red bell pepper.
Just a bit, about 1/2 oz.
Like the onion, we’ll cut into strips first.
Then rotate to dice.
Of course, you can use
whatever color of bell pepper you prefer.
We’re using red bell peppers here
for a bright pop of contrast.
Set these to the side.
A stalk of green onion.
Chop the green onions up.
We’ll dice the green onions.
Set these to the side as well.
You can have as many green onions as you like.
More aromatic.
I'll chop one more, for 2 stalks total.
Next, we have our garlic.
2 cloves of garlic.
Smash them.
We’ll smash and peel our cloves of garlic.
Now cut off the hard ends, smash again, then mince.
That's all we need to prep.
Small chili peppers.
Use more if you like it spicy.
Use less if you don't want it as spicy.
Simple.
You don't need a lot.
It's up to what you like.
With our Thai chilis, we’ll first cut off the stem,
then in half lengthwise, then rotate to dice.
If you don't want any spice at all, omit it.
With our veggies cut,
we’ll create our dry seasoning for the shrimp.
That's about it.
Let's mix up the salt seasoning.
1 tsp of garlic salt.
Use only a little bit of normal table salt.
1/5 tsp of salt.
1/4 tsp of white pepper.
Mix it well.
It's not tasty if it's too salty.
We have all of these ingredients listed on our blog at madewithlau.com
along with step-by-step instructions and video clips
to guide you as you make the recipe at home.
All right, friends, everything is prepped.
Now, we can start frying the shrimp.
Set it to the highest heat.
We’ll heat our wok on high before adding oil.
The wok is hot now, so let's add the oil.
We'll add about 4-5 oz of oil.
We can reuse this oil.
Stir-fry some other dishes.
375° F.
What if you don't have a thermometer?
Stick a wooden chopstick in it.
If you see bubbles coming out of it, it's ready.
You'll hear it sizzling.
Now it's hot enough.
Yeah, it's 375° F now.
You can fry Salt & Pepper Shrimp at rather high heat.
Let's put them in.
When the oil is hot enough,
we’ll add in our first batch of shrimp.
Like this.
We can't fry too many at once,
there's not enough oil for that, okay?
Fry them on high heat.
How many pieces of shrimp are in there?
This is a batch of 8.
If your shrimp are smaller, you can do more.
Make sure to move the shrimp around
to ensure that each one is getting evenly fried in the oil.
Shirley from Patreon asked,
"How do you keep the prawns crispy?"
Sprinkle cornstarch onto the shells
and fry them on high heat.
It doesn't get as crispy without the cornstarch.
That's enough, we'll lower the heat.
Since the shrimp is completely submerged in hot oil,
they cook very quickly.
See?
After just 40-50 seconds,
we can take out our first batch of shrimp.
Oh my god!
Okay!
Set it there.
Let the oil heat back up.
Bring it back up to 375° F, then add the next batch.
It's at 370° F now.
Once the oil is back up to temperature,
we can go in with our second batch of shrimp.
How much oil to use?
At least enough to submerge the shrimp.
Okay, turn the heat off.
After the same amount of time,
we can turn off the heat and take out the shrimp.
Done!
Okay!
Let's pour this oil out.
Let it calm down and pour it out.
Look at that!
Oooh, smells incredible!
Yeah! Good!
Now, we’ll set our shrimp aside
and when the oil has cooled a bit,
we can pour it out of our wok.
Now, pour the oil back here.
Use a sieve or strainer.
Once the oil is strained, we can use it to cook again.
Wipe the edge.
My dad wipes the wok clean with a paper towel
before starting our next step.
After frying the shrimp, turn the stove back on.
We don't need high heat now.
We'll stir-fry the accompanying ingredients in a bit of oil.
We’ll add just a tsp of the oil we just used
and when that’s hot, we’ll add the garlic.
Fry the garlic.
Low heat is enough.
Low heat.
We don't need much oil.
Once the garlic is aromatic, add the onion.
After just 15-20 seconds cooking the garlic,
we can add the onion, bell pepper, and Thai chilis.
Stir-fry on low heat,
don't let it burn.
He’ll also add just a bit of
the white parts of the green onion here
and stir-fry til fragrant.
Can you smell that?
Yeah!
That aromatic garlic.
Okay, let's lower the heat even more.
Why did you lower it more?
If the heat is too high, the ingredients will burn.
then it's not as tasty, right?
After 30-40 seconds of stir-frying the onion and peppers,
we can add in all the shrimp.
Are you adding all the shrimp?
Yes, add all the shrimp at the end.
Stir-fry it quickly.
Stir it up.
Make sure the shrimp soaks up
the flavor from the garlic and the onion.
Now, we'll add the chopped green onion.
Also, our garlic salt mix.
We’ll start to sprinkle on our dry seasoning
as we toss the shrimp with our wok.
Look at that, all done!
As you can see,
he doesn’t use all of the seasoning or ingredients here.
He prefers to dial in the amount while he’s cooking
and you can do the same based on your preferences.
Let it soak up all that flavor.
Okay!
That's done, turn off the heat.
Here, you have to try a piece.
Mm! Oh my god, it's so good.
Nice, isn't it?
We’ll plate our shrimp and top with the rest of the ingredients.
Now let’s see what my family thinks of these tasty crustaceans.
Friends, our Salt & Pepper Shrimp is complete.
I hope you all enjoy it!
Hong Doy, time to eat!
Cheers!
Mm!!
Have some beef!
Beef!
Beef boy!
Wow! Yeah, you love beef.
Beef boy!
Beef boy, I'm a beef boy!