Shrimp with Lobster Sauce

This is a classic dish served in old-time Chinese-American restaurants. It is tasty as well as being an easy and quick dish to prepare. Serve with steamed rice and a side of veggies.

The key to cooking this version of the dish successfully at home is to use medium heat and cook slowly. Notice in the video that I am not duplicating the high heat stir frying method used in a restaurant to prepare the dish because shrimp cooks very quickly and it is easy to over-cook. So, go slowly and reduce the risk of overshooting the end point.

Note: The shrimp is cooked with a sauce usually reserved for accompanying lobster, hence the name "lobster sauce". No lobster is used in this dish.

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INGREDIENTS

• ½ pound of raw shrimp (any size count)
• ¼ pound of ground (or coarsely chopped) pork
• 1 egg (cracked into a bowl and set aside)
• 2 teaspoons fermented black beans* (rinsed and drained)
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• ¼ teaspoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup water or stock
• 1 teaspoon dark soy for color (optional)
• Cornstarch paste: combine 2 teaspoons cornstarch with 2 Tablespoons water in a small bowl
• Chopped green onions for garnish

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Pre-heat skillet on stovetop at medium heat.

2. Gather and prepare the ingredients.

3. Place a tablespoon of oil in the skillet and saute the fermented black beans and garlic until aromatic. Take care not to burn the garlic.

4. Add the ground pork and spread it around the skillet to separate. Saute the pork pieces until cooked through.

5. Add the water (or stock), sugar, salt, and soy sauce (if using). Bring to a gentle boil.

6. Add the shrimp. While maintaining a gentle boil, slowly add the cornstarch paste and stir to combine. Cover the skillet for about a minute (or two depending on the size of the shrimp). Uncover, stir, turn the shrimp over, then cover the skillet again for about a minute.

7. Finally, uncover, lightly beat the egg and pour it into the skillet. Gently move the egg around the sauce and allow it to set up in the boiling mixture. Taste the sauce and add seasonings as needed.

8. Plate, garnish with chopped green onions and serve with rice and a side of green veggies.

* Fermented Black Beans- these very inexpensive fermented soybeans, generally available at Asian grocery store are known in Chinese as Douchi (豆豉). Substitute ready-made Black Bean Garlic paste usually available in jar form in the international section of supermarkets (avoid the black beans packed in chili oil—that’s something else entirely).