I love shrimp! This easy to prepare Dry Pot Braised Shrimp recipe combines shrimp with celery, potatoes, and onion, adding ginger, garlic, salt, and sugar according to your taste. A special flavor comes from the hot pot soup base. Hot Pot comes from Chengdu, in Sichuan, and is popular all over China. It is a spicy soup that you dip meat and vegetables into, to enjoy the textures and flavors as you chew. Dry pot uses the soup base, without the soup, to dry-braise the shrimp and vegetables. If you have never tried hot pot, this dry pot, braised shrimp recipe will introduce you to the wonderful flavor and texture.
Dry-braising shrimp
There is an interesting technique used, to cook the shrimp and potatoes quickly and preserve their flavor, without burning them. To add them raw to the stir-fry would burn them before they cook through. Both the shrimp and the potatoes are first blanched, then browned separately. In this way you can pay close attention to each and brown them evenly, without overcooking or burning. Then, they are added to the broth at the end to absorb the flavors. Slicing the potatoes thin is essential to cooking them successfully. Thicker potato slices will overcook on the outside before cooking all the way through.
You might notice that many Asian dishes leave the shell and even the head on the shrimp when cooking. The shrimp is cut along the back to remove the vein, but leaving the shell on for cooking keeps the shrimp moist and tender inside.
Slicing the potatoes
For a Chinese chef, skill with the knife is critical, and we practice everyday to get faster and more consistent. However, if you’d like nice, even, thinly sliced vegetables at home, you can use a mandoline to make quick work of your slicing.
Hot pot soup base
Hot Pot soup base can be ordered from our friends at the Mala Market. If you prefer, you can substitute Pixian Doubanjiang bean paste, which is also a Sichuan staple.
Do you enjoy My Chinese Home Kitchen?
We enjoy sharing these authentic home recipes with you. To learn more about My Chinese Home Kitchen, please visit our About page.
Please leave a comment, or SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter.
For more of our original videos, visit My Chinese Home Kitchen on YouTube and Rumble.
