Greedy Girl : Shrimp toast

Time for Takeout!

Flavorful shrimp paste slathered on bread and fried to a toasty crisp. That’s all this is, pretty much shrimp croutons if you ask me. Very delicious, the onions, ginger, scallions and garlic add so much flavor to the shrimp. I love the texture difference where the bread is super crunchy with the other side being creamy with a light crisp. Who new home made shrimp toast could be so good.

Shrimp toast is one of those takeout items that sometimes get overlooked. I personally hardly ever order it (because I’m so obsessed with scallion pancakes) but it’s always there on the menu in the midst of fried wontons and spring rolls. I have a friend who loves them and orders them quite often. At the time when she used to order it, I just thought it was weird, especially since it looks nothing like shrimp.

In doing my research I decided I wanted a takeout item using shrimp that was not the usual, fried shrimp, or garlic shrimp and broccoli, or even sesame shrimp (I’ll save that for next month). I literally took up a takeout menu from the kitchen drawer and scanned it for a shrimp dish that I hardly ever order. When I saw shrimp toast I thought Bingo!

This is a really great appetizer; I can’t express how flavorful it is. I used Jamaican hard dough bread to make my shrimp toast and I’m not sure how the thinner breads would work. They would probably crisp up faster than the hard dough. Just like the egg rolls I made in the last post, you want the oil hot but not inferno hot. If the oil is too hot you bread will burn very quickly while your shrimp won’t get a nice color. And I say a nice color because shrimp takes a very short time to cook, especially shrimp paste, literally one minute and this thing is ready. So it’s something you can make just as guests are arriving. Get your food processors and blenders ready for this yummy recipe.