Chạo tôm / Vietnamese Sugarcane Shrimp

The other day I found fresh sugarcanes at the market. The first thing that came to my mind was this favorite Vietnamese dish of mine, Chao Tom or the grilled sugarcane shrimp. I love the bouncy texture of seasoning mashed shrimp and the yummy sweet taste that came from juice sugarcane. It is usually served with vermicelli rice noodles, various kind of veggies and herbs and this special Vietnamese light sweet and sour dip. it is a dish that packed with wonderful flavors and aromas.

My oh my... it was the bomb! 💣 🤤

Sugarcane shrimp

Ingredients:

~ 1 fresh sugarcane of around 4inch length 

~ 500 g. fresh shrimp

~ 2 tbsp egg white 

~ 1 tsp salt

~ 1/2 tsp sugar

~ 1 tsp ground pepper

~ 2 tbsp corn flour / potato flour

~ cooking oil to form the shape of shrimp batter and if you choose to fry instead of grill

How to:

✔️ To make a shrimp batter, you can choose to either pound the shrimp in a mortar, or very fine chop the shrimp on a cutting board, or blend the shrimp in a food processor. Then add the mashed shrimp with egg white, flour and all the seasonings to mix. Keep mixing it together for around 5 mins to make it firm.

✔️ Put the mixed shrimp batter in a fridge to cool down for 30 mins, or while you are preparing the sugarcane, dipping sauces and rice vermicelli noodles.

✔️ Peel the hard rind of sugarcane off by a knife. Then make around 8 thick sugarcane sticks out of it. 

✔️ Divide the shrimp batter into 8 portions. 

✔️ Oil your hands and wrap the shrimp batter around the sugarcane. Leave both end or one end of the sugarcane free of the shrimp battle.

✔️ You can choose to cook the sugarcane shrimp on a grill, or deep fried, or cook it in an air fryer (like I did 😁).

✔️ Serve it with the dip, vermicelli rice noodles and various kind of herbs and lettuces.

Dipping sauce

Ingredients:

~ 1 cup sugar

~ 1/2 cup vinegar 

~ 1 tbsp salt

~ 1/2 cup water

~ 1 or 2 tbsp of minced chili pepper  or chili pepper paste

~ shredded carrot, shredded Chinese radish and crusted peanuts for garnish

How to:

✔️ Mix everything together in a saucepan, except the garnishes, and cook it on a medium heat until it is reduced and thicken.

✔️ Let the sauce cool down and add the garnishes on top of the dip before serve.

Sides:

~ boiled vermicelli rice noodles with fried garlic

~ lettuces 

~ coriander 

~ Thai basil

~ mint