January 7, 2019

Homemade Shrimp Ball Paste Steamed with Broccoli 手打蝦膠蒸西蘭花

Broccoli, chinese, homemade, paste, recipe, Shrimp Ball, steamed, 手打, 蒸, 蝦膠, 西蘭花, , 蝦球, 蝦丸
By Published: 2019-01-07
Yumm...broccoli and shrimp...two of my favorite things in one easy dish!  Make this way easier than you think Homemade Shrimp Ball Paste Steamed with Broccoli for dinner and not only does it look good but it's a two for one (seafood and veggies) as well as super yummilicious.  

The key to this spectacular looking dish is the shrimp paste, or shrimp ball paste as I have called it to differentiate it from the intensely aromatic fermented shrimp paste 蝦醬.  This shrimp ball paste is made with fresh shrimps and it's surprisingly easy to make.  

Once you have the hang of making shrimp ball paste you can make plain ol' shrimp balls for your noodle dishes or hotpots, or smear it on all kinds of veggies to be steamed or fried to shrimpy deliciousness!

Broccoli, chinese, homemade, paste, recipe, Shrimp Ball, steamed, 手打, 蒸, 蝦膠, 西蘭花, , 蝦球, 蝦丸

We could have stuffed and steamed the shrimp ball paste with other veggies, for example fuzzy melon 節瓜 (I love that name!) or stuffed and fried it with eggplant or bell pepper or even tofu, kinda of like how we like to do it with fish paste in Three Fried Stuffed Treasures 煎釀三寶 or Pan Fried Tofu Stuffed with Fish Paste 煎釀鯔魚滑豆腐.  

But we love that beautiful green of just steamed broccoli so we went with that.  Plus my little girl likes eating 'trees'.

Tip:  Poach the broccoli briefly in water that has either a smidge of sugar or baking soda in it to achieve a lovely bright green color to your cooked broccoli!

Broccoli, chinese, homemade, paste, recipe, Shrimp Ball, steamed, 手打, 蒸, 蝦膠, 西蘭花, , 蝦球, 蝦丸

Shrimp ball paste is made from...shrimp!  The shrimps need to be peeled and deveined (this little gadget is handy for that.)  Add a bit of starch and egg white to make it all come together smoothly.  

You can use fresh shrimp or flash frozen shrimp.  Flash or quick frozen means that shrimp are frozen immediately upon harvesting and therefore the sea fresh flavors are pretty perfectly preserved.  Different shrimp will give you different flavors.

Broccoli, chinese, homemade, paste, recipe, Shrimp Ball, steamed, 手打, 蒸, 蝦膠, 西蘭花, , 蝦球, 蝦丸

The shrimps need to be mashed.  You could use a food processor for this part but I would be wary of over processing and making the paste too rubbery.  Anyways the shrimps are easy to mash by hand.  I just used the end of one of my rolling pins.  Remember to stir in only one direction, this helps the paste form.

Broccoli, chinese, homemade, paste, recipe, Shrimp Ball, steamed, 手打, 蒸, 蝦膠, 西蘭花, , 蝦球, 蝦丸

The final bit for making the shrimp ball paste is super fun and something that I had previously thought was a thing that cooks did in movies for the dramatic flair of it.  It turns out that gathering the paste in one hand and throwing it with some force back into the bowl a couple of times actually does something wonderful to the texture of the paste.  Plus it's really fun and diva-ish thing to do!

Psst...at this point you could go on to form shrimp balls from the paste and either boil or deep fry them to perfect shrimp eating perfection!

Broccoli, chinese, homemade, paste, recipe, Shrimp Ball, steamed, 手打, 蒸, 蝦膠, 西蘭花, , 蝦球, 蝦丸

Last of all smear your homemade shrimp paste on to the veggies.  It's pretty easy cuz the paste is pretty sticky.  If it's too sticky to handle just wet your fingers a little and then you'll be able to smooth out the paste no problem.  Make a quick sauce while steaming, then pour sauce over perfectly just steamed broccoli and ta-da!

There it is, gorgeous Homemade Shrimp Ball Paste Steamed with Broccoli, a double whammy veggie and seafood dish for an easy and delicious Chinese dinner dish!

Broccoli, chinese, homemade, paste, recipe, Shrimp Ball, steamed, 手打, 蒸, 蝦膠, 西蘭花, , 蝦球, 蝦丸
Shrimp Ball Paste Steamed with Broccoli
手打蝦膠蒸西蘭花

Prep time: Cooking time: 

Ingredients:

    Sauce (or see alternative sauce suggestion below)*
  • 1 cup chicken stock
  • 1 tsp potato starch (or corn starch)
  • salt to taste

Directions:

Wash and cut florets off broccoli.  Peel skin off stem and slice diagonally into 1/4"thick slices.  Bring small pot of water to boil, then add in sugar and broccoli for about 10-15 secs or until broccoli turns bright green.  (The sugar helps broccoli turn green.)  Remove immediately from water and run under cool water to stop cooking.

Shell and devein shrimp.  Add 1 tsp starch and salt, mix and let rest for 7 mins.  Rinse and drain, then dry shrimp thoroughly with kitchen paper.  Chop roughly, then add to mixing bowl and mash into paste.  Add in 1 tsp starch, egg white, sesame oil and white pepper and mash and stir in one direction only until completely mixed.

Gather paste in one hand and throw with some force back into the bowl.  Repeat for 6 times or so until the paste becomes sticky.  Cover and put in fridge for 30 mins.

Arrange broccoli stem slices evenly onto bottom of steaming plate.  Smear 1 tbsp of shrimp ball paste onto top of each broccoli floret, use wet fingers to smooth over and place onto steaming plate in a circular fashion.  Steam over high heat for 5 mins.
While steaming use small pot to make sauce.  Mix starch and chicken stock together.  Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly until the sauce thickens.  Remove from heat.  Salt to taste.  Once the broccoli is steamed pour sauce over florets and serve hot.

*Sauce suggestion:  If you've used shelled shrimp, here's a quick and really yummy alternative sauce you can make.  Reserve the heads and shells as you deshell.  

Fry shells and heads in a bit of oil for a minute til it starts browning, add 2 cups water and simmer till reduced by a quarter.  Mix starch and 1 tbsp water together, then add to pot.  Stir until sauce thickens.  Simply shrimpilicious stuff, I promise!

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2 comments:

  1. What type of prawns should we use?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Sandy- we use the grey type shrimp but any kind of shrimp would be fine to use. It's up to your taste preference and what's available and, of course, the cost. ~ellen

    ReplyDelete