Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Shrimp Paste on Lemongrass Skewers

This is a famous appetizer known as Choa Tom in Vietnam. Shrimp is minced into a smooth paste and coated around a sugarcane but since I can't find fresh sugarcane here I just used Lemongrass. It is better to simply grill it and eat it by itself, straight from the hot grill and enjoying every single bite of it. It will be great dish for a barbecue spread.

Ingredients :

1 pound of fresh shrimp - peeled and deveined
2 stalk of spring onions - finely chopped
a small bunch of cilantro - finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic - finely chopped
1 small red chilli - finely chopped
1 egg
1 tbsp of cornstarch
1 tbsp of fish sauce
1 tsp of sugar
salt and pepper to taste
8 pieces of lemongrass
1) Put shrimp in a food processor and pulse into a smooth paste. Remove into a mixing bowl.
2) Add in all the rest of the ingredients except the lemongrass and mix well. Set aside in the fridge for an hour.
3) Divide the paste into 8 equal portions and wet your hand with some water. Take a piece of lemongrass in your hand and mould a portion of the paste around the top part of the lemongrass. Press gently until the edges are sealed.
4) Place the skewer on an oiled tray, while you finish making the rest of the skewers.
5) Grill the skewers over medium heat for 5-6 minutes, turning them frequently until they are nicely browned all over. Serve immediately while its still hot.

Note: Make sure you wet your hand with some water before you mould the paste if not it will stick all over your hand. Alternatively you can cook the skewers under a broiler. You can replace the lemongrass with sugarcane for this dish.

25 comments:

Beachlover said...

Gert,this dish really look good! At first glance I thought it's chicken.oh!! love cilantro and shrimp!Did Carlos share this wt you?

vanillasugarblog said...

Your husband is so lucky to have you. It is amazing the dishes you come up with. I love how creative you are.
Did you cook like this in Malaysia? How lucky to have Malaysian and American cooking under your wing. And who knows what else.

Anonymous said...

yum yum yum... Absolutely declious! I really want to make these.. just full of flavours!!!

Debbie said...

I have never seen that recipe before. It looks delicious!

Salt N Turmeric said...

Sounds delicious Gert. But sayang nak guna all the lemongrass. Can use something else or not? Besides sugarcane lah. lol.

Cat Cat said...

Great finger food for party too, Gert. An alternative to satay.

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Anonymous said...

I'm so noob, I threw away the sugar cane after making sugar cane drink and I only realised I can make sugarcane prawns after... your lemongrass version looks good!

VG said...

Too good Gert. Meleleh air liuh Vin. Something to try this summer, which is just around the corner for me, yay...

Little Corner of Mine said...

Yum, I bet this is very fragrant and delicious!

tigerfish said...

Love lemongrass aroma. Did the shrimps have lemongrass taste? I would love that!

Anonymous said...

this is one special dish. I love trying new things!

Finla said...

For sure I am going to make this.
I have shrips in my freezer but no lemon grass, so will have to wait till i have them.
Looks so delicious YUMMMMM

Nate @ House of Annie said...

Ack! I just gave a ton of lemongrass away!

eatingclubvancouver_js said...

I love these shrimp paste on cane skewers, one of my favourite appetizers. Thanks for sharing the recipe.

Anonymous said...

These look so cute and juicy...and of course so professional!

Zue Murphy said...

Intresting food and very creative. The aroma from lemongrass must be divine. Yumm..yumm...

ICook4Fun said...

Beachlover, you can always use chicken for this dish but I think shrimp taste better :) As for Carlos he is not a fan of shrimp so he didn't try this :)

Dawn, thank you for your compliment. Actually I hardly cook in Malaysia as I was too busy with work. Since I am a homemaker now I have more time to cook and bake :)

Cookinghut, you have to give this a try and you won't regret it :)

Debbie, thanks for dropping by. Will pay you a visit later :)

Farina, actually you can get sugarcane easily from the Vietnamese store. You can always use skewers but I think it will taste better with sugarcane or lemongrass. By the way I only used the top part of the lemongrass and you still get to use the bottom part for your other dishes :)

Cat, I am sure it will be a great hit for entertaining :)

Noobcook, its ok. You can always get more sugarcane for this :)

LCOM, its really fragrant with lemongrass :)

ICook4Fun said...

Tigerfish, yes it does. You should give this a try. I am going to do this again when I get my hand on some fresh sugarcane :)

MC, hope you will try this out :)

Happy Cook, welcome back. How was your trip back to India? Hope you will try out this dish :)

Nate & Annie, you plant lemongrass too? How I wish I am still live in CA :(

JS, you are most welcome :)

Stars, thank you.

Zue, you have to give this dish a try when Murphy do some BBQ.

Unknown said...

a great appetizer... thanks for sharing your recipe... :)

Anonymous said...

This looks really delicious! I'm trying to imagine what it would taste like with the sugar cane. I'd probably still prefer the lemongrass :)

ICook4Fun said...

Mikky, you are welcome :)

Fearless Kitchen, I think sugarcane will be nice too. Wait till I find some fresh sugarcane I will make this dish again.

Christelle said...

Oh yummy!!
I wish I could BBQ that would be great!

ICook4Fun said...

Christelle, you don't have a BBQ grill?

Ed Schenk said...

I have got to do this recipe! it's awesome!