Salted Pepper Fried Shrimp

This is a popular restaurant dish in Malaysia. The succulent salted and peppered shrimp is lightly coated with rice flour and cornstarch with its shell and head intact and then pan fried with oil or butter. The rice flour and cornstarch give a flavorful crunch to the sweet and succulent shrimp.

Ingredients :

1 pound of medium size shrimp - with or without head but with shell and tail intact.
2 tsp of salt
1 tsp of black pepper
1 tsp of Szechuan peppercorn – crush finely
1 tsp of sugar
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 green onions – finely sliced
3 tbsp of rice flour
3 tbsp of cornstarch
2 tbsp of butter
2 tbsp of vegetable oil

1. Clean shrimp thoroughly. Pat the shrimp dry and season it with 1 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp of pepper. Set it aside.
2. In a big bowl combined rice flour, cornstarch, 1 tsp of salt, 1 tsp of pepper and 1 tsp of sugar. Mix well.
3. Toss the shrimp lightly in the flour mixture.
4. Heat up a frying pan to medium heat. Add in 2 tbsp of butter and oil. When the butter melt toss in the shrimp and let the shrimp pan fried until pink and lightly brown on both side. Stir-in the chopped garlic and give the shrimp a few more toss until it is cooked. Toss in the Szechuan peppercorn.
5. Add in the green onions, dish out out and serve immediately.