Spicy and Sweet Peel and Eat Shrimp
aka Cantonese style Ketchup shrimp
Ketchup shrimp is a traditional Cantonese dish. My mom made this at least once a week because my younger brother and I were such big fans. The sweetness of the ketchup is cut with the umami from the Worcestershire and the Tabasco give it a nice subtle kick. It was a side dish served with white rice. This recipe is a version of my mom’s and I made a few changes. I prefer to enjoy it as an interactive meal so peel and eat is the perfect and the horseradish gives it another layer of flavor.
spicy and sweet peel and eat shrimp
Prep time: 20 minutes | Total time: 20 minutes
Serves: 2
Ingredients:
1 pound large 16-20 shrimp, cleaned and deveined
1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil, divided
1 small shallot, halved and thinly sliced
1-inch piece ginger, finely grated
3 scallions, cut into 1-inch segments, whites and greens separated
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon hot sauce, such as Tabasco
2 teaspoons prepared horseradish
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons light soy sauce
Instructions:
Pat the shrimp dry of any excess water with paper towel. Set aside.
Heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Once shimmering, add enough shrimp in an even layer. Cook until the shrimp has turned just pink, about 2 minutes, flip and continue to cook until the other side is pink, about 1 minute more. Transfer to a bowl and continue with remaining shrimp. The shrimp is not cooked through at this moment.
Once all the shrimp have been seared, adjust heat to medium. Add the shallot, ginger, scallion whites and garlic. Let aromatics fry slightly until ginger is golden brown, about 1 minute. Add the seared shrimp back to Dutch oven along with any collected juices. Stir until well combined.
Meanwhile, mix the ketchup, dark brown sugar, hot sauce, horseradish and Worcestershire sauce in a small bowl. Add directly to the shrimp along with 3/4 cup water, soy sauce and scallion greens.
Bring to boil and let simmer until shrimp is fully cooked through, about 2 minutes. Season to taste, if you would like it to be spicer, add up to 1 tablespoon of hot sauce.
Transfer to platter and enjoy hot.
Cook’s Note
*If you are using frozen shrimp, place in a colander and rinse under cold water for 2 minutes. Then soak in cold water for 5 minutes until thawed. Shake off excess water and pat dry.
Buying guide for shrimp
Source: Serious Eats
Shrimp are highly perishable, so it's important to know how to pick out the freshest shrimp available, not just for taste and texture but also for safety. First off, you don't want any shrimp that smell like ammonia—this is a telltale sign of spoilage, and it's worth asking your fishmonger if you can take a sniff before buying. You'll also want to avoid shrimp that are limp, slimy, or falling apart, all of which are signs of decay.
A more advanced sign if you're buying head-on fresh shrimp: look for black spots on the head first, then the body. The black spots are called melanosis; it's the result of the same oxidation process that turns your apples and avocados brown. In other words, they don't definitively mean that your shrimp is bad, but they do indicate that the shrimp could be fresher.
A shrimp's size is measured by the number of individual shrimp it takes to make up a pound. A label of 16/20 means that there are between 16 and 20 of these shrimp in a pound. Sometimes you'll see a letter U as well, like U10, which means fewer than 10 of those shrimp make up a pound.