Vietnamese sugar cane shrimp (chạo tôm)
These seasoned shrimp bites are easy to make, tasty and perfect party food.
Servings: 4 or more if smaller servings
Calories: 181kcal
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Ingredients
- 1 lb shrimp raw, peeled and de-veined weight
- 2 cloves garlic or 1 if large
- 2 scallions/spring onions
- 2 tablespoon pork fat eg fat from bacon, trimmed and chopped
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- 2 teaspoon brown sugar
- 2 teaspoon fish sauce
- ½ teaspoon pepper either white or black, as you have/prefer
- 1 can sugar cane or 12 pieces split from one or two stalks
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil approx - to oil hands
For nuoc cham dipping sauce
- ½ red chili or more/less to taste, finely chopped
- ½ clove garlic minced
- 2 tablespoon water or a bit more, to taste, if needed
- 1 ½ tablespoon lime juice
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- ½ tablespoon sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Ensure the shrimp are well cleaned and de-veined, without any bits of shell left on them. Roughly chop the scallions, removing the stem, and chop or mince the garlic.
- Place the shrimp and pork fat in a food processor and blend to break up and mix. Add the scallions, garlic, egg, sugar, fish sauce and pepper and pulse to combine, break up and mix well. Scrape down the sides and re-blend if needed. It should become paste-like and almost a little whipped looking.
- Break pieces of sugar cane into sticks around ¼ to ½in (1 - 1 ½cm) in diameter. If you are using sugar cane from a can, the length will be about right already. If you are chopping from a fresh sugar cane, you'll need to peel it then cut into lengths probably between the joins, around 3in/7 ½cm long.
- Divide the shrimp mixture into roughly 12 pieces, each around 2 tablespoons in size, possibly slightly smaller. Rub your hands with oil then take one of the pieces of shrimp paste in one hand and flatten it out, place a stick of sugar cane on top then wrap the shrimp paste around it so that the two ends stick out but you have a band of shrimp paste around the middle (see photos and video). Repeat with the rest of the shrimp paste and sugar cane sticks, putting more oil on your hands as needed to avoid the mixture sticking to your hands.
- Prepare the nuoc cham dipping sauce before cooking by mixing everything together.
- Line a steamer and place the prepared sugar canes in a single layer, without the paste part touching - you may need to make more than one steamer full. Cover and steam for around 3 - 4 minutes until they are no longer translucent and are just cooked. As they are cooking, warm up a grill or overhead grill/broiler. Remove the cooked sticks from the steamer and transfer to grill. Cook for a couple minutes on two or three sides, depending how easily they turn or as needed. Watch closely as they cook -you want them gently browned but not overcooked.
- Serve warm with nuoc cham dipping sauce and if you like, use lettuce and/or herbs to wrap the shrimp paste in (then chew on the sugar cane).
Video
Notes
This recipe makes approximately 12 sticks, which will serve around 4 or slightly more as an appetizer or snack.
Nutrition
Calories: 181kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 18g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 190mg | Sodium: 1.331mg | Potassium: 220mg | Fiber: 0.4g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 382IU | Vitamin C: 12mg | Calcium: 83mg | Iron: 1mg
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