Coin-Style Pan-Fried Shrimp Cakes
Combine minced shrimp and pork fat into a smooth paste. Pan-fry into round patties, embedding a slice of ham in the center of each, shaped like ancient Chinese coins.
Ingredients
Small shrimp (minced into paste)
200 g
Cooked ham lean meat (cut into 0.5 cm square thick slices)
25 g
Pork fat (minced into paste)
50 g
Egg (using egg white only)
1
Cilantro stalks
5-6
Seasonings (white pepper, fine salt, MSG, raw oil, sesame oil, Shaoxing wine, cornstarch slurry, rice vinegar)
to taste
Instructions
1
Step 1
Mince the shrimp and pork fat separately into fine pastes, then combine them in a bowl. Add half an egg white, white pepper, Shaoxing wine, fine salt, and MSG, and stir vigorously in one direction until the mixture becomes sticky. Add cornstarch slurry and mix until well combined to form the shrimp paste. Cut the ham into 0.5 cm square thick slices.
2
Step 2
Heat a wok, slick it with cold oil and then pour out the oil. Add 3 tbsp of raw oil and heat until the oil reaches about 30% hot. Squeeze the shrimp paste by hand into 2 cm diameter balls, place them one by one into the wok, and press each into a round patty about the size of a coin using a ladle. Press a slice of ham into the center of each patty to mimic the hole of a coin.
3
Step 3
Pan-fry for about 20 seconds, then flip and pan-fry the other side until the inside is cooked and the outside is lightly golden. Pour off the oil, return the shrimp cakes to the wok, and drizzle with hot sesame oil and rice vinegar to add fragrance. Transfer to a serving plate, surround with cilantro, and serve.
