Shrimp Toast with Sweet and Sour Sauce: more commonly known as ‘prawn toast’ is a nostalgic recipe from growing up in Australia. When it comes to eating, my favorite food list is long even as a child. Shrimp toast as I started calling it just last week, was a constant favorite of mine on a trip to a hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant I’d frequent with my parents. More of a Western-evolved Chinese recipe, although I have these delicious little toasts in Hong Kong. Shrimp toast is white bread slathered with minced shrimp flavored with garlic, ginger and green onions. Then lightly fried and served with warm sweet and sour sauce. Along with choy sum, prawn crackers and pork in plum sauce, these toasts were heavenly to my adventurous young self, regardless of their authenticity to China, I loved them and still do. They will always remind me of my father, John, who instilled in a young girl a passion for food from all the globe. Sadly he passed away in the latter part of last year and not a day goes by that I don’t think about how his influence led me down my culinary career path and miss our food chats.
Jump to RecipeOne thing I must state and have done so in the recipe is you need to use the supermarket sliced white bread for this recipe. This is not the time to bust out the good artisan bread. No. Something like Wonder White please. This is probably the one and only time I will say that but to get the same results it has to be the processed sliced white bread.
I’m constantly amazed at how when someone posts a recipe online people become quite opinionated, many of them quite nasty. I was sure I’d eaten shrimp toast in England when I was there in April – prawn toast as it’s called there. So I looked to see if I could find a recipe on a UK website and immediately found one on BBC Food, which by the way has some great recipes. I read the comments, something I often regret, and wasn’t there a few irate know-it-alls spouting the lack of authenticity to China? At the end of the day who gives a flying fuck. Honestly. Shut-up and move on, no one cares what you think but you. These are delicious, regardless of authenticity. Enjoy!
SHRIMP TOAST WITH SWEET AND SOUR SAUCE
Ingredients
SWEET AND SOUR SAUCE
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch corn flour
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1/4 cup cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
SHRIMP TOAST
- 8 oz shrimp meat, chopped this is 8oz of shrimp without shells and tails
- 1 large egg white
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- Canola oil for frying plus 1 teaspoon
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch corn flour
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 teaspoons finely grated ginger
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions, plus extra for garnish
- 4 slices square white bread, crusts removed you’ll need quite large slices for this recipe
- 1/4 cup white sesame seeds
Instructions
To make the sauce:
- Put all ingredients in a small saucepan. Stir over medium heat until well combined. Bring to a simmer, cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce reaches a syrupy consistency. Keep warm. Makes a scant 1/2 cup.
To make the toast:
- Place shrimp, egg white, salt, 1 teaspoon oil, cornstarch, garlic and ginger into the bowl of a food processor and process for 30 to 60 seconds until the mixture is well combined and shrimp is finely chopped.
- Scrape the mixture into a medium bowl. Add green onion and mix to combine.
- Carefully spread the mixture onto each slice of bread, covering it from edge to edge; smooth the surface. Cut each piece diagonally into four triangles.
- Spread the sesame seeds onto a small plate. Lightly press the shrimp side of each triangle into the sesame seeds so they stick and cover the shrimp mixture.
- Heat some oil in a deep, large frying pan or wok, to 350° (180°C) over medium-high heat. Cook the triangles, shrimp side down, for 2 minutes then turn and cook for 1 minute or until golden. Drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with green onion and serve with Sweet and Sour Sauce