There are several way to make walnut shrimp. In Chinese it translated as “Walnut Shrimp Ball”. It is because the shrimps will curl up to be in beautiful ball shape when you fry it. Walnut shrimp is more popular here in the US. Like many other dishes, “shrimp ball” is a type of dish that is based on batter coated fried shrimps. My personal favorite is Pineapple shrimp, especially when it’s sprinkled with colorful powdered sugar! Pineapple shrimp is not that popular in the U.S., however, walnut shrimp is more well known. When we think of a Chinese dish, walnut shrimp is definitely one of the dishes that pops out in everyone’s mind! Now that’s see how to make this well-loved dish!

Walnut shrimp Ingredients:

• ½ cup of walnut halves
• 1 tbsp of butter
• 2 tbsp of brown sugar
• 1 tbsp of water
• 12 oz of shrimps
• 6 tbsp of cake flour
• 2 tbsp of rice flour
• 2 tbsp of cornstarch
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• 4 tsp of oil
• 6 tbsp of water
• 2 tbsp of mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp of honey

First, boil the walnut for 1 min to remove the bitterness.

Melt the butter, cook the walnuts at medium heat for about 2 min or the color turn a bit brown, set aside to cool for later use

The color is more brown now.

Add water and brown sugar to your pan, cook at medium heat until it starts to caramelize. After the walnuts are well coated by sugar. Spread it evenly on a parchment paper or a plate to cool.

Of course, if you are too lazy to make this your own, feel free to use store-bought honey-glazed walnuts from Trader Joe’s or other supermarkets!

Again, even though Costco never pays me to promote their products, nor do they provide me with a one-year supply of shrimp or any kind of other benefits, their shrimp is one of the best shrimps. After you defrost it, cut along the back of the shrimp. There is already a groove when they remove shrimp’s’ digestive system, you will need to cut that groove deeper so it will curl up like a ball. Rinse off all sticky fluid with water and dry them with a paper towel. DO NOT CUT THEM IN HALF or else it will curl up funny and get overcooked easily.

If you are familiar with Chinese cooking, you might know “crispy powder”. It’s a mixture of different powder. You can either find “crispy powder” or “tempura powder” to make the batter. If not, here is a way to make it. The key is to lower the gluten level so the fried batter coating won’t be too firm but crispy instead. We are using cake flour mixed with rice flour (hopefully you got some leftover from turnip cake recipe!) and cornstarch, with a little bit of baking powder and oil. After mixing it with water, here is the batter for 1 lb of shrimp.

Coat your shrimp evenly with the batter

Since we had done quite a few fried dish like Tonkatsu curry rice, popcorn chicken and spring rolls. I won’t annoy you with the step again. Basically, heat the oil up to smoking or 300F. Fry the first time, set aside to let cool, heat up the oil to 350F and then fry a second time at higher temperature and in shorter duration. After the first fry, the instantly cooked food will continually release moisture. Those moisture will enter your crispy outside and make it soft. This is why foods that are fried only once get soft very quick. By frying it the second time, at higher temperature and shorter time, you drive out the moisture from your outside without overcooking the inside. The only difference here is that shrimp gets overcooked easily. We are going to fry for only 15 sec for the first run and another 10 sec for the second run. After frying, set it aside as well.

Mix all sauce evenly

There are two ways of plating: some people love to toss the shrimp to have it mix evenly with the sauce. Some prefer to have it drizzled on top. I like it drizzled on top since that is one element I can use to decorate the dish.

Sprinkle the honey-glazed walnuts on top. Enjoy!

4.0 from 1 reviews

Walnut shrimp 核桃蝦

 

Author:

Jeff Kang

Recipe type: Main

Cuisine: Chinese

Serves: 3 ppl

Prep time: 40 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Total time: 1 hour

Print

 

Ingredients

• ½ cup of walnut halves
• 1 tbsp of butter
• 2 tbsp of brown sugar
• 1 tbsp of water
• 12 oz of shrimps
• 6 tbsp of cake flour
• 2 tbsp of rice flour
• 2 tbsp of cornstarch
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• 4 tsp of oil
• 6 tbsp of water
• 2 tbsp of mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp of honey

Instructions

1. Boil some water in a frying pan
2. Cook the walnut for 1 min, drain and set aside to cool
3. Melt the butter in a frying pan at medium heat
4. Add walnuts, stir fry for 2 min
5. Remove and drain the walnuts, set aside to cool
6. Add water and brown sugar to the pan and bring it to boil at medium heat for 1 min
7. When it caramelizes, add in the walnuts and stir fry
8. After the walnuts are well-coated with sugar, transfer them to a sheet of parchment paper to cool
9. cut into the back of the shrimp at head-to-tail direction but do not cut them into two halves
10. Rinse with water and dry with paper towel
11. Mix the batter: cake flour, rice flour, cornstarch, baking powder, oil and water
12. Coat shrimp with batter evenly
13. Heat up the oil to 300F
14. Put in the shrimp one by one, fry for 15 sec
15. Remove from the oil, let it cool for 3 min
16. Heat up the oil to 350F
17. Put in the shrimps and fry for 10 sec
18. Remove the shrimps and set aside
19. Mix the sauce: mayonnaise and honey
20. drizzle the sauce on top of the fried shrimps
21. sprinkle the walnuts on top of the fried shrimps

3.3.3077