Friday, March 7, 2014

In The Kitchen: HONEY WALNUT SHRIMP


This is by far one of my favorite dishes to order at a Chinese restaurant.  I admittedly always wince slightly at the price because it's always one of the more expensive items however you can make your own home version for a fraction of the cost!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup walnuts
1 lb. Shrimp
1 egg
2/3 cup cornstarch
Oil
2 Tbsp Lite Mayo
2 Tbsp Honey
2 Tbsp Condensed Milk
1/2 Tbsp Lemon Juice


Bring water to boil and add in sugar and stir.


Keep stirring until the sugar turns golden colored and is slightly thick.


Add in your walnuts and give it a quick stir to make sure they are evenly coated


Once they are evenly coated take out, drain sugar and spread your walnuts on parchment paper.


Peel, de-vein  and wash your shrimp.

(Sidenote - I use frozen cooked shrimp.  So if you do too you'll want to defrost them first.  The reason I use frozen pre-cooked is they're really affordable.  Also frying breaded shrimp can be finicky.  When you deep fry the whole things cooks really well however when you're frying sometimes the outside cooks a lot faster then the inside.  And yes I've ended up with the outside burned and the inside still raw before lol!)


Pat the shrimp dry with paper towels and add in one egg and coat the shrimp evenly


To make the sauce combine your mayo, honey, condensed milk & lemon and stir together.  I like to prepare the sauce BEFORE I fry the shrimp - after you fry you have a very small window from when you finish frying and when the crispy shrimp will start to turn soggy.


 Take your shrimp with egg coating and coat both sides evenly with the cornstarch.


I like to prepare some paper towels on plates before I fry that way you'll be able to take your shrimp out and immediately plop them on the paper towels to soak up oil.


Heat the oil until it starts to bubble and add your shrimp and fry.  You should cook your shrimp in batches otherwise if you add too many in at once they tend to stick together!


And flip.. you'll know they are done when they are golden in color.  They should take no more then 2-3 min.


Take out and blot on your paper towels.


Take the mayo sauce you've prepared earlier and spread it out evenly on a bowl.  

(This is roughly about the time the Hubs "wanders" in the kitchen to "see what I'm up to" and tries to eat a few of the freshly fried shrimps lol!!  They're actually really tasty without the sauce I have to keep myself from eating them too many of them too! hehe)


Add your shrimp into the sauce and coat evenly!


Plate and sprinkle with your candied walnuts that you made in the beginning and you're done! :)


BTW do you like my sad little rice mound on the left..... lolololol.  I try not to eat rice (my Chinese nick name is "Rice Bucket" because I can eat rice literally by the bucket *sigh*) when we eat Chinese food.. but when it's a mayo covered shrimp dish.. it callllls out for rice lol!

29 comments:

  1. i love the perfectly shaped rice! so cute!! <3

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  2. hahah oops, my random bubble7ea login is showing up. this is amy m.! =P

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  3. This is one of my favorite dishes too! Asian food's the best! I love your recent recipe posts! Please continue to post them :)

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  4. OMG nom nom nom - I want some now! Looks delicious!

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  5. OOOOOOh looks like a lot of work but I should definitely try this as a potluck dish!! my fav dish as well!!!

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  6. Thanks for sharing this, Lisa! I'm so gonna try this once I visit my parents' place :D


    xoxo,
    Gelleesh.com

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  7. oooh! You make me hungry! Hey Lisa have you ever pick one shrimp right after they came out from fryer, then u see ur shrimp taste pretty damn good then u pick another one and the sauce hasn't even done yet? lol i love doing it whenever i fry stuff up. haha. Btw, thanks for recipe!

    www.yoannita90.blogspot.com

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  8. Yum-O! I'm going to try out that recipe. Btw, love the hello kitty bowl. I love rice too. My dad always says that if he hasnt had rice that day, it feels like he hasnt eaten at all, lol! Obviously we're a family of rice lovers :)

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  9. THANK YOU!! This is one of my favorite dishes to order too!! OMG. I never thought about making it at home. I will have to give it a try to impress my friends! lol

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  10. Wow! That is skillful of you to attempt a dish like this. You make it look easy too. I've always loved this dish when I went out for family dinners but always assumed it was one that was better eaten at a restaurant because they do it right. I might have to give your recipe a try one day. Thanks!

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  11. I love honey walnut shrimps too. Will have to try this recipe. Thank you and have a wonderful weekend!

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  12. That looks yummie!! Great job!!

    Best, Mree

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  13. haha very nice rice mound! ahh the shrimp looks soooo yummy!!!!! :D

    katslovefashion.blogpsot.com

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  14. This is one of my favorite dishes to make! Hehe, I see that you added a side of broccoli.

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  15. That looks amazing! You are such a great cook :)
    Happy Friday xoxo
    Suzanne from written by suzanne

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  16. jammie!
    www.supongoestilo.blogspot.nl

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  17. looks sooo yummyyyyy. i'm so afraid of hotoil though, i don't think i can ever fry anything unless i'm wearing maybe an astronaught suit.
    i'm really loving this "cooking series" you started on your blog lol. i'm learning lots!


    www.mizzsandychau.blogspot.com

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  18. Yum! More recipes, please, haha!

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  19. Looks delicious. I wanna try this myself :)

    www.writingmonique.com

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  20. hahaha cute! I was going to say WOW that's one heck of a big mound of rice compared to the other. Don't worry, every family has a rice bucket... luckily i am not that one in my family :p
    I wish I made as much effort as you to cook. I've lost weight and my mother had only been away for 3 days... My face is not as bloated (which is a win) however I for feel hungry since there is less chance of me eating. good reason to lose a few pounds? I think so!

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  21. Yummy, honey walnut shrimp is my fav dish, gotta try your recipe out !!!
    xoxo
    Christy

    http://www.am2pmchic.com/

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  22. Thanks for sharing the recipe Lisa.. looks so tempting :D

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  23. Very nice recipe!! Thanks for sharing!!
    If you would like, we could follow each other! :) just let me know :)

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  24. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe with us. I love Chinese food and it seems quite hard to find all the ingredients here in Europe but you have chosen one which does not have a challenging composition. I don't think I have ever eaten this dish though, very eager to try it. Your husband's lovely note on the first picture makes all the difference, right? :D

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  25. I am beginning to like your "In the Kitchen" series a lot. Besides the recipe, I like how the step by step pictures with very simple instructions make cooking the dishes so easy. Just from your post, I have mentally noted down the basic steps in cooking these shrimps and would only need to refer back on the ingredients again. Very soon, I would be able to cook this w/o any reference. Thanx for sharing!

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  26. Aah, that looks so good. My dad always orders that. Maybe I should make this for him one day.

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