Pictorial: White Boiled Shrimp

[hzrt8w]

White Boiled Shrimp (白灼蝦)

Can it be easier? Nothing can be easier than white boiling some shrimp to make a dish. The key to a delicious "white boiled shrimp" dish is to have fresh shrimp (with heads) and making a dip for the shrimp.

Picture of the finished dish:

Serving Suggestion: 2 to 3

Preparations:

Main ingredients: (From left to right)

- 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 lb of medium to large size shrimp with head

- 5 to 6 green onions

- 1 to 2 chili pepper (e.g. jarapeno pepper, or red chili)

Soak the shrimp in a mixing bowl with water for an hour or so. Rinse the shrimp and drain.

Trim and shred the green onions diagonally. Trim and cut the chili peppers into thin slices.

Cooking Instructions:

Use a medium size pot. Half fill it with water. Boil the water.

Use a small bowl. Scoop about 1/2 cup of the boiling water onto this bowl. Add 3 tsp of sugar to dissolve.

Use another small bowl. Lay the shredded green onions in the bowl. Lay the chili slices on top.

Add the shrimp on to the pot of boiling water. It will take about 3 to 5 minutes for it to boil again.

Meanwhile, use a small pot or pan to heat up 3 tblsp of cooking oil to fuming hot.

Very quickly, splash the fuming hot oil onto the bowl of shredded green onions/sliced chilies.

Add about 8 tsp of light soy sauce.

Add on the sugar/water mix.

Mix well. This is the dip for the white boiled shrimp. Transfer to small bowls/dishes for serving.

The shrimp is cooked when it completely turns orange/red (no more grey). Pour the pot content onto a strainer. Drain off the boiling water and transfer the shrimp to a plate/dish for serving. Finished.

Picture of the finished dish and the diping sauce.

[wesza]

Ah Leung:

Where did you get those "Shrimp" in Seattle any Asian Market that had such "Fat Shrimp" (with Roe) on display would have caused a line up, with a quick sell out of them real fast.

I have gotten lucky with local or Alaskan "Spot Prawns" with Fat, but almost never find any white fat shrimp or brown fat shrimp available.

They were real fresh or flash frozen to show the iridescent pink color turning red thru the shells after becoming opaque after boiling.

Great Photo receipe series again, could almost taste them just by visualizing.

Irwin

[Shalmanese]

How do you tell the roe on a shrimp?

[miladyinsanity]

Isn't the orange stuff in the head in the first picture Ah Leung posted of the raw prawns the roe? That's just what I assumed it was, but I might be wrong.

[hzrt8w]

Where did you get those "Shrimp" in Seattle any Asian Market that had such "Fat Shrimp" (with Roe) on display would have caused a line up, with a quick sell out of them real fast.

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Thank you Irwin. Those shrimp are regularly available in the local Asian grocery markets in Sacramento, selling at about US$3.99 to $4.99/lb depending on the size. I feel really lucky that the seafood available in Sacramento is comparable to those in San Francisco with prices just slightly higher than China Town. I guess they trucked them in from San Francisco Bay, Bodega Bay, Half Moon Bay or wherever... Live Dungeness crabs are selling for US$2.69/lb right now.

I don't know enough about the anatomy of shellfish. Are those "roes" inside the shrimp head? They are quite tasty. Once you peel off the head, just suck these fat out of the head. I thought roes (shrimp eggs) are something they carry outside of their bodies in the belly area. With this batch, I did not see any shrimp that carried eggs.

[mizducky]

If I'm reading this website correctly, those colorful bits inside the shrimp are possibly her ovaries (scroll down to the diagram titled "Life-cycle of a Shrimp" and check out the text at #8); I guess you could think of the ovaries as unfertilized roe. Anyway, what the female winds up carrying outside her body is a packet of sperm (a "spermatophore") deposited on her by the male; she then secretes her eggs so that they get fertilized by the sperm outside of her body, drop to the ocean floor, and start developing into more shrimp.

[hzrt8w]

[...] she then secretes her eggs so that they get fertilized by the sperm outside of her body, drop to the ocean floor, and start developing into more shrimp.

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Interesting. Thank you mizducky. I wonder how long the shrimp holds on to the fertilized eggs before dropping them to the ocean floor. I have eaten some pretty big lumps of shrimp eggs of spot shrimp in Monterey Park. They tasted excellent! Gotta be in season though...

[jo-mel]

If I'm reading this website correctly, those colorful bits inside the shrimp are possibly her ovaries (scroll down to the diagram titled "Life-cycle of a Shrimp" and check out the text at #8); I guess you could think of the ovaries as unfertilized roe.   Anyway, what the female winds up carrying outside her body is a packet of sperm (a "spermatophore") deposited on her by the male; she then secretes her eggs so that they get fertilized by the sperm outside of her body, drop to the ocean floor, and start developing into more shrimp.

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Thanks for all that! LOL!

I must remember what I am eating, the next time I am eating it!!

[mizducky]

If I'm reading this website correctly, those colorful bits inside the shrimp are possibly her ovaries (scroll down to the diagram titled "Life-cycle of a Shrimp" and check out the text at #8); I guess you could think of the ovaries as unfertilized roe.   Anyway, what the female winds up carrying outside her body is a packet of sperm (a "spermatophore") deposited on her by the male; she then secretes her eggs so that they get fertilized by the sperm outside of her body, drop to the ocean floor, and start developing into more shrimp.

←

Thanks for all that! LOL!

I must remember what I am eating, the next time I am eating it!!

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Hey, it's all just a part of life in the food chain, y'know!