August 28, 2014

Chinese Shrimp & Eggs Stir Fry 蝦仁炒蛋

chinese, eggs, recipe, shrimp, stir fry, 炒, 蛋, 蝦仁, comfort food, scrambled eggs

Another favorite comfort food that we grew up with is the easy to prepare and delicious to eat Shrimp and Eggs Stir Fry, or 蝦仁炒蛋.  Tender soft flakes of egg clinging gently to plump pink sea fresh shrimp.  Two of my all time favorite things in one dish!  

Too bad that my eczema acts up if I eat this too often, otherwise I would seriously make this dish at least once a week.  But no one likes a grumpy gal with itchies all over, so we only have this every once in a while.  But when we do, it sure is a treat!  While this homey Chinese dish is quite straight forward to prepare, one does need to have a few things in their bag of tricks to pull it off.

chinese, eggs, recipe, shrimp, stir fry, 炒, 蛋, 蝦仁, comfort food, scrambled eggs

The first thing would be good ingredients.  As I've said before many a time, simple dishes are dependent on good ingredients to achieve their quality.  So we used fresh free range eggs purchased from my grumpy egg man at my local Hong Kong wet market.  Yumm!  Such lovely flavor!  

And of course you should use fresh shrimp ideally, except I can't be bothered to peel the shrimp shells and all that jazz and because we have found that the Hong Kong pre-peeled frozen shrimp can be of excellent quality, especially the quick frozen ocean caught shrimp, which have a really good shrimpy flavor.  

Don't you dare, however, use frozen shrimp if you live somewhere where the frozen shrimp ends up tasting like wet rags. (And yes, sadly that would include USA)  

chinese, eggs, recipe, shrimp, stir fry, 炒, 蛋, 蝦仁, comfort food, scrambled eggs

The second essential is the technique of scrambling the eggs.  This dish is cooked really fast, so you got to be prepared.  It's like taking a deep breath and then diving off the high dive.  You just can't stop and gotta keep going otherwise you're going to majorly belly flop!  

The eggs should just settle into tender luscious flakes of scrambled eggy goodness.  Half cooked and the other half just set.  Clinging gently to your plump pink shrimp.  Usually I can hit the mark but sometimes I miss by a couple of seconds and it's overdone, it's become scrambled eggs and shrimp (major bummer!)  

Do everything in quick order when you cook this dish and don't wait!  Everything is in seconds!  And don't leave it in your hot wok, for goodness sake!  Get those luscious eggs and shrimp pronto into the serving plate as fast as you can!
Shrimp & Eggs Stir Fry Recipe
蝦仁炒蛋
(Prep time: 2 mins  Cook time: 4 mins)

Ingredients:

  • 15 medium shrimp, shelled
  • 2 slices ginger (quarter-sized)
  • 3 tbsp peanut oil
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 3/4 tsp rice wine
  • 5 eggs (organic eggs or very fresh eggs)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 spring onion, chopped in rounds

Directions:

Heat wok over medium high until it starts smoking, add 1 tbsp oil and immediately add the ginger.  When the ginger fragrance rises, add the shrimp in. Let cook undisturbed for 30 secs, then flip the shrimp over.  Let cook for another 30 secs, then add salt and wine and stir fry for another 20 secs until pink on all sides.  Remove shrimp to platter.   Rinse the wok clean and heat til dry.

Whisk the eggs gently and add 3/4 tsp salt.  Heat wok over medium heat until just smoking and add remaining 2 tbsp oil.  Slide in the egg.  Have a spatula ready.  Once the eggs have cooked on the bottom most layer (which will be really fast) use your spatula to gently pull all the cooked egg towards you and up the side of your wok, shaking the spatula gently as you do so that any uncooked egg will run off back towards the center of the wok.  The egg should gather in delicate folds up the side of your wok.  Wait a few seconds and then repeat.

When you have just one layer of egg left to cook, immediately add the shrimp in, fold the eggs from the side of the wok over the shrimp, turn off your heat, and use your spatula to gently break up shrimp and egg to bite sized chunks and immediately remove to serving platter.  Toss on some chopped spring onion and serve right away.

Tip:  Do not over cook!  If in doubt turn off the heat sooner rather than later.  The egg should still be soft and goopy at places (it will still cook some more off the heat.)  

Tip:  For a similar but different and equally comfortingly delicious dish see our recipe for Tomato Egg Stir Fry 蕃茄炒蛋

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4 comments:

  1. This recipe is a walk down memory lane. Dishes of my childhood.

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  2. The frozen peeled shrimps need to be washed beforehand then marinated and coated with cornstarch, it will have a crispy texture after frying it. From USA.

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    Replies
    1. Hi AJ -thanks for the interesting tip, will try that next time. ~ellen

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