Vietnamese sugar cane shrimp (chạo tôm)

Vietnamese sugar cane shrimp (chạo tôm) is a tasty traditional Vietnamese appetizer. They're a popular choice for a banquet, but being so easy and yummy, it's worth making any excuse to enjoy them.

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There's something about finger food that feels that bit special. Maybe it's the association with parties, weddings and the like. Or maybe there's a hint of feeling like you're breaking the rules.

Whatever it is, eating with your fingers somehow feels a treat. And when it tastes good, like these, even better. You don't need many ingredients, but they've got great flavor and are perfect to snack on. 

Where is chạo tôm from?

Chạo tôm is, by most accounts, originally from the Hué area in central Vietnam. Hué was once a religious and cultural center and it was the capital of the country under the Nguyen dynasty. This dish is sometimes claimed to have been created by the indigenous cooks in the imperial kitchen. Others say this is a Southern Vietnamese dish.

Whatever the origins, it is now a very popular dish across the country and one that's commonly served as part of a banquet dinner for weddings and holidays. Though for whatever reason, it seems to be much less common in Vietnamese restaurants outside the country. It may be it's more seen as a home cooking dish than a restaurant one.

What are the ingredients in sugar cane shrimp?

These are essentially a seasoned shrimp paste wrapped around sugarcane sticks. It gives a whole new meaning to "food on a stick"! The shrimp paste is primarily shrimp with a little pork fat to add flavor and texture, egg to help it hold together, and garlic, sugar, fish sauce, pepper and scallion to seaon the mixture. 

You can, if you like, also add some chopped fresh herbs like cilantro, though the mixture as it is certainly has plenty flavor, particularly when served with the typical dipping sauce. 

In terms of the pork fat, I appreciate this isn't something everyone has hanging around but an easy solution is to cut some of the fat off some bacon. Chop it up small, taking off any tough rind, before mixing in.

For the shrimp, you can use any size you have, just make sure all shells have been removed and that they are deveined and cleaned. Also, use raw rather than cooked shrimp which won't work here.

Tips for making sugar cane shrimp

The paste is very easy to make as you simply add everything to a food processor and pulse so that everything breaks up and combines. It should look slightly whipped-like. 

Then, you take spoonfuls of the mixture and wrap it around a sugar cane stick. A whole stick of sugar cane is too wide so you typically need to split it into a few pieces. 

The trick to forming the shrimp paste around the sugarcane is to oil your hands first. This way, the paste sticks to itself and the sugarcane rather than your hands.

Some choose to fry these, but the slightly healthier and I believe more traditional way is to steam then grill them. Steaming cooks through the shrimp and makes the mixture firm. Grilling (or cooking under the broiler/overhead grill) adds a nice bit of color and extra flavor. They take mere minutes to cook at each stage.

Sourcing and using sugar cane

Sugar cane (also written sugarcane) can be a little hard ot find - I do find sticks now and then in a larger local supermarket but it's certainly not always available. Plus, with fresh sticks, while they can taste better, you do need to do a bit of preparation. You need to carefully cut away the outer layer to reveal the more tender, juicy inside pieces which is what you use here.

Instead, an easier option is canned sugar cane which you can find at many Asian supermarkets as well as online. These are pieces of prepared sugarcane in lengths that work well for this. You just need to split into smaller pieces - generally artound 3 - 4 per stick, depending on the width.

You can't eat the pulp of the sugar cane, but you can chew on it to release the tasty sweet juices. Then discard the leftover pulp. 

How to serve chạo tôm

As mentioned, these are often served as part of a buffet selection, and you can also serve them more just as they are as an appetizer. They work with a few additions, but the main one which to me is a must is with nuoc cham dipping sauce.

You can take the shrimp mixture off the sugar cane, wrap it in lettuce and/or with herbs and dip in the sauce. If you like, you can also add in some rice vermicelli noodles. So tasty, either way.

Vietnamese sugar cane shrimp, chạo tôm, is an easy and delicious appetizer that's perfect as part of a party appetizer selection, or simply to snack on just because. Simple flavors, that are tasty and fun to eat. In other words perfect finger food.

Try these other tasty seafood appetizers:

• Baked mussels (mussels with a herby, buttery crumb topping)
• Shrimp saganaki (shrimp with tomatoes and feta)
• Oysters Kilpatrick (topped with bacon and a punchy sauce)
• Toast Skagen (Swedish shrimp toasts, easy and elegant-looking)
• Plus get more appetizer recipes and Southeast Asian recipes in the archives.

See some of my favorite cooking tools and ingredients in the Caroline's Cooking Amazon store. 

I've drawn on a few recipes in creating this, including this Viet World Kitchen recipe and this Jen H Dao recipe.

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