Ingredients
1 lb raw shrimp
1/2 egg white, beaten
1 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt to
4 cup oil, for deep frying
1 green onions, for garnish
SWEET AND PUNGENT SAUCE
4 1/2 tbsp sugar
4 1/2 tbsp catsup
1/4 cup vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sherry
1/2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp oil
2 large garlic cloves, minced
3/4 tsp minced fresh ginger root
1 tbsp chopped green onion
1 tsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp orange zest
Directions
A reader who requested the recipe for a sweet and pungent shrimp from
the Panda Inn in Pasadena won the everlasting thanks of our tasting
panel. Because it's as impossible to eat just one of these as it is
to eat a single kernel of popcorn, the recipe is often called Chinese
popcorn.
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Peel and devein the shrimp. Slice in halves lengthwise. Rinse well
and pat dry. Add the egg white to the shrimp and mix well. Mix
1-1/2tablespoons cornstarch with salt and add to shrimp. Stir to coat
well. Add 1-1/2 tablespoons oil and mix well again. Place the shrimp
in a bowl and refrigerate at least 2 hours.Remove the shrimp and dust
with remaining cornstarch. Shrimp should be dry to the touch. Heat
the remaining oil in a large wok to 350 to 375 degrees. Fry the
shrimp 1-1/2 to 2 minutes until crisp, being careful to separate them
with a long- handled wooden spoon or chopsticks to prevent sticking.
It may be necessary to fry the shrimp in several batches. When done,
remove the shrimp with a slotted spoon and drain well. Combine the
shrimp and the sweet and pungent sauce and toss quickly to coat.
Immediately turn out onto a platter and sprinkle with finely chopped
green onions. SWEET AND PUNGENT SAUCE: Combine the sugar, catsup,
vinegar, and salt, and set aside. Heat the oil in a wok. Add the
garlic, ginger, green onion, red pepper, and zests of lemon and
orange; cook 30 seconds. Stir in the sugar-catsup mixture.
Immediately add the sherry mixture and cook until slightly thickened.
Servings: 4 servings
Chinese Popcorn (Sweet & Pungent Shrimp) Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Appetizer; Asian; Chinese; Fish; Seafood
The History of Recipes
We are able to read the history of meal recipes way back into history, at least as far as the ancient Egyptians, and maybe further still. In practice though, in the main part, these old cookbooks were just very simple pictorial, hieroglyphic or cunieform recipes for meal preparation.
In fact, the oldest recipe discovered, according to food historians is a collection of stone tablets in the Sumerian language which show the preparation of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made drinkers feel `blissful`. Moving on, there were some interesting books dating from the 14th Century - a book published under the title `Forme of Cury`, and another, similary called `Curye on Inglish`. Amusingly, these books are not about the indian food that is served today, but instead descriptions of the types of meals prepared by the chefs of the rich. Later on, in the 15th century, people returning from the crusades brought back a variety of foods and herbs from Arab cooking, including spices such as coriander, parsley, basil and rosemary. These new spices and herbs caused an increase in recipe manuscripts, the majority of which are kept safe in academic collections. Over the succeeding few centuries, the powerful and wealthy houses competed to serve the most exotic meals, and as a consequence, chefs and their collection of recipes were highly sought after. Even so, it wasn`t until the nineteenth century that fine cookery and cookery books became popular. The Famous Mrs Isabella Beeton in the UK, and the equally famous Fannie Merritt Farmer in the USA, dedicated the best years of their lives to assembling, trying out, and recording recipes to allow everyone to enjoy them. When we get to the 20th century, cook books are highly popular mostly as a result of more people being able to read, increased leisure time and being a little richer. The TV revolution gave us TV cooks and the recipe books that accompanied them. And that pretty much brings us to the present day and the invention of computers and the internet, permitting us all to search through massive numbers of recipes just like those on sites such as the one you are reading now. |
We hope you enjoy this Chinese Popcorn (Sweet & Pungent Shrimp) recipe.
