Dried shrimp are salted, shelled and reduced versions of fresh shrimp
with much concentrated flavor.
1001 Foods You Must Taste Before You Die states that they can be rehydrated in rice wine or water and the liquid it has soaked in, which has absorbed the flavor, and can be added to the dish. Dried shrimp do pack a wallop of taste and they can be quite overwhelming in any quantity.
Taking direction from 1001, I took some dried shrimp and began rehydrating it in rice vinegar (it just occurred to me in writing this that it suggested rice wine and I used rice vinegar instead - oh well),
then added some spicy chili paste to the mixture.
I added several eggs to some lotus root already frying in some olive oil and then added the shrimp mixture to it.
It was an interesting dish - certainly not a gastronomic homerun, but it was better than a bunt. It allowed me to do some experimenting with both the lotus root and the dried shrimp and test their properties and it was a more than adequate meal. I love expanding my taste palette. The dried shrimp pushes the food across a boundary into waters only normally navigated by Asians. It is a boundary I hope to cross more and more as I gain greater familiarity and appreciation for Asian cuisine.
..."The dried shrimp pushes the food across a boundary into waters only normally navigated by Asians. It is a boundary I hope to cross more and more as I gain greater familiarity and appreciation for Asian cuisine."
ReplyDelete... A boundary which crosses over to Hawaii - which I hope you cross more and more, so we can all enjoy some together! !!!
dry shrimp or any dry seafood you find in asian market is a well known home ingredient to assist that whatever bone soup stock you're making, it's has very unique chemistry, just add this dry shrimp to your boiling pot of chicken bone soup, or dry squid to some pork bones and you're 80% soup ready.
ReplyDeletethis was done in old olden day before MSG was invented in the 1960s as that "unami" taste, an old chinese word for delicious has the word combination of meat plus seafood. so now you see thousand of dried seafood variety that people have tested over the years.
Thanks Anonymous. The soup stock in the home I grew up in was ham bones. I do love the wonderful combinations of ingredients used in Asian cooking.
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