Salted Egg Mantis Shrimp
Sweet-salty on the outside, with a little crisp and soft and melts in the mouth on the inside. This Salted Egg Mantis Shrimp has a unique, umami taste and a slight spicy kick from the cut red chilli. It’s fragrant from the fried curry leaves and is perfect with a bowl of plain white rice.
While this Salted Egg Mantis Shrimp dish looks super fancy, it’s easy to do with a little more effort and time. It’s a fancy yet tasty dish that’s perfect for a family treat!
This recipe serves 4 to 5 adults.
Ingredients
Salted egg yolks, which add a rich, creamy and salty taste, it is made from duck eggs that have been cured in salted charcoal paste. It can be bought either as a whole egg, which is how it’s commonly sold in the markets, or pre-packed with only egg yolks. The egg yolks are steamed to cook before being smashed and stir-fried, inducing a thick and dense foam to evenly coat the mantis shrimp.
Mantis shrimp, which is the main protein for this dish. They add a subtle ocean flavour to the dish that goes well with the flavours of salted egg. As they are quite salty on their own, especially with the salty coating, it is not necessary to marinate them with additional salt. While they can be deep fried with the shells on, I find it a waste to have the delicious salted egg yolk coating on the shells, which are not typically consumed; so they are first cleaned and peeled for this recipe.
Cooking oil, or any unscented vegetable oil. I had used a slightly lower grade of cooking oil for deep frying, and a higher grade of cooking oil for the salted egg sauce.
Curry leaves add a bright green colour to the warm dish, a unique fragrance and a crisp texture to the Salted Egg Mantis Shrimp dish. In general, deep-fried curry leaves are a must-have ingredient for any salted egg-flavoured food.
Red bird’s eye chilli adds a nice, spicy kick to the dish to cut through the saltiness. This small spice also adds to the addictiveness of salted egg sauce.
Minced garlic, for a lovely fragrance and infusion of the allicin chemical to the cooking oil and salted egg sauce.
Sugar is added to balance out the saltiness of the egg yolks and mantis shrimp. Adding a little sugar also makes up for the omittance of MSG in this recipe.
Crispy flour, or any brand of tempura flour absorbs the moisture from the mantis shrimp’s flesh and ensure that they become quite crisp once deep-fried.
Steps
Here are the brief steps to make Salted Egg Mantis Shrimp:
- Prepare salted egg yolks.
- Smash salted egg yolks.
- Deep fry curry leaves.
- Coat mantis shrimp with crispy flour and deep fry.
- Remove mantis shrimp when golden brown.
- Fry oil, garlic, chilli and curry leaves until fragrant.
- Stir in salted egg and sugar with the fragrant herbs.
- Stir vigorously until the salted egg sauce is very foamy and dense.
- Add the mantis shrimp to the salted egg sauce.
- Toss the mantis shrimp with the salted egg sauce until fully covered.
- Dish the Salted Egg Mantis Shrimp onto a serving plate.
- Garnish with chopped chilli and deep-fried curry leaves.
Tips
- Buy slightly more salted eggs as they have to be cured for a long time in order to be salted. As the eggs are fully covered by the salted charcoal paste, rotten eggs are not easily identifiable.
- Once cooled, the egg yolks can be kept in the fridge, in an air-tight container for about 3 days. It can also be kept longer in the freezer if you prefer to prepare it in advance.
- Try to get a nice balance of finely smashed egg yolks and some chunky bits – this helps to build a nice, dense foamy texture of the salted egg sauce.
- Make sure the curry leaves are fully dry before adding them to the hot oil to prevent any large oil splashes.
- Be sure to stir vigorously when making the salted egg yolk sauce to introduce as much air to the foam as possible.
- Make sure to watch the full video to see how I made it exactly!
Storage Instructions
As with most deep-fried foods, this Salted Egg Mantis Shrimp dish is best enjoyed immediately once cooked. The texture is crisp and the perfect balance of the flavours is most delicious when hot and warm.
While it can be frozen, it may become slightly mushy when reheated. If it is kept, it can be refrigerated for roughly 2-3 days, or frozen for about 1-2 weeks.
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Salted Egg Mantis Shrimp
Equipment
- Wok
- Non-Stick Frying Pan
- Turner
- Large strainer
- Wooden Chopsticks
- Basin
Ingredients
Deep Fried Mantis Shrimps
- 500 ml cooking oil, for deep frying
- 2 stalk curry leaves
- 300 g mantis shrimp, cleaned & peeled
- 5 tbsp crispy flour, or tempura flour
Salted Egg Sauce
- 4 salted egg yolks, steamed & mashed
- 30 ml cooking oil, unscented
- 25 g garlic, peeled & minced
- 2 red bird's eye chilli, sliced thinly
- 2 stalk curry leaves
- 1 tsp sugar
Garnishing
- 1 red bird's eye chilli, sliced thinly
Instructions
- Remove the salted charcoal paste from the eggs iwth the inside of the plastic bag and discard the paste. Rinse the salted eggs twice in water until well-cleaned. Discard the plastic bag of salted charcoal paste.
- Break the egg and set the yolk aside on a heat-resistant plate to steam. Repeat with all the eggs until 4 yolks are obtained. Discard the egg whites.
- Prepare the steamer. When the water comes to a boil, place the egg yolks in the steamer, with another heat-resistant plate to cover it. Then cover the steamer and steam them for 4-5 minutes. Remove them from the steamer with a steamer clamp and set aside to cool.
- Smash the egg yolks with a fork until slightly fine and a little chunky. Set it aside.
- Place a stainless steel frying pan on the stove. Pour 500ml of cooking oil in the pan and let the oil heat up, for about 7 minutes.
- When the oil is hot, strip the curry leaves from the stems and add them to the oil. Fry them for about 30 seconds and remove from the heat with the strainer, shaking off the excess oil. Set them over a bowl to drip off excess oil and set aside. Switch off the heat.
- Switch on the heat. Coat the mantis shrimp with the crispy flour generously. Shake off the excess. Add it to the hot oil and repeat with the rest of the mantis shrimp, until the pan is full.
- Cook the mantis shrimp for about 3 minutes without turning them. Then flip them evenly and cook them for about 2 minutes, or until all the pieces turn golden brown. Remove them from the pan, placing them on a strainer to drip off the excess oil. Switch off the heat.
- On a separate pan, add 30ml of cooking oil over medium heat, and wait for about 1.5 minutes for it to get hot. Add the minced garlic, 7g of cut red chillies, and 6g of curry leaves. Fry them for 45 seconds, or until soft and fragrant.
- Add the egg yolks and sugar. Stir vigorously and continuously for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the foam becomes very thick and dense.
- On the last minute, increase the heat to medium-high. When the foam is thick and dense, add the deep-fried mantis shrimp and toss them in the salted egg yolk sauce to coat evenly. Switch off the heat.
- Transfer the salted egg mantis shrimp to a serving plate. Garnish with some chopped red chillies and fried curry leaves before serving.
Video
Notes
- Buy slightly more salted eggs as they have to be cured for a long time in order to be salted. As the eggs are fully covered by the salted charcoal paste, rotten eggs are not easily identifiable.
- Once cooled, the egg yolks can be kept in the fridge, in an air-tight container for about 3 days. It can also be kept longer in the freezer if you prefer to prepare it in advance.
- Try to get a nice balance of finely smashed egg yolks and some chunky bits – this helps to build a nice, dense foamy texture of the salted egg sauce.
- Make sure the curry leaves are fully dry before adding them to the hot oil to prevent any large oil splashes.
- Be sure to stir vigorously when making the salted egg yolk sauce to introduce as much air to the foam as possible.
- Watch the video to see exactly how I made it!