Stir-Fried Shrimp and Eggs (Xia Ren Chao Dan)

This popular Cantonese dish is super delicious and very easy to make. The key is quickly stir-frying the ingredients until they are just cooked through to ensure a silky smooth texture in both the egg and shrimp. To ensure that the shrimp are perfectly tender-crisp in texture, I soak the raw shrimp in a little baking soda and ice cold water for 30-60 minutes before marinating and cooking. We are fortunate to have an abundance of fresh organic eggs from our hens to use in any egg-centric dish and they taste amazing in this recipe.

Ingredients:

1 lb. medium-large shrimp, shelled and deveined

1 tbsp. baking soda

Cold water

2 cups ice

Shrimp Marinade:

1 tsp. rice wine or Shaohsing wine

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1/4 tsp. white pepper

2 tsp. cornstarch

12 large eggs at room temperature

3/4 tsp. kosher salt

1/4 tsp. white pepper

1 tsp. sesame oil

2 scallions, finely chopped

Optional:

1/4 cup green peas

1/2 cup sliced button mushrooms

Extra chopped scallion for garnish

1. Rinse the shelled and deveined shrimp and place into a large bowl. Add the baking soda to the shrimp and stir well to combine (I wear disposable gloves to massage the baking soda into the shrimp). Add enough cold water to just cover the shrimp and stir in 2 cups of ice. Set aside for at least 30 minutes or up to an hour.

2. After 30-60 minutes, rinse the shrimp well under running water to remove the baking soda; place into a medium bowl and pat dry with paper towels. Mix in the shrimp marinade until well combined, then cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

3. Crack the eggs into a large bowl and whisk with a fork until well mixed. Add 3/4 tsp. kosher salt, 1/4 tsp. white pepper, 1 tsp. sesame oil and 2 chopped scallions and stir until thoroughly combined. Set aside.

4. Add 2 tbsp. oil (I use grapeseed oil, which has a high smoke point) in a wok or large saute pan over high heat. Add the shrimp and stir-fry until they just turn pink; remove to a bowl and set aside. If using mushrooms and peas, stir-fry them briefly in the same pan in 2 tsp. oil until mushrooms are just tender; remove to a bowl and set aside.

5. In the same pan, add 1/4 cup of oil and bring up to heat over high heat. 

6. Stir the cooked shrimp, mushrooms and peas into the egg mixture, then pour into the hot pan; toss the egg mixture with a spatula until it is just cooked through (do not overcook!). Immediately remove the eggs and shrimp to a serving platter and garnish with chopped scallion. Serve with steamed white rice.

After shrimp has soaked in the baking soda ice water bath and is rinsed and patted dry, add the marinade ingredients, cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Beaten eggs with salt, white pepper, sesame oil and scallions.

Saute the marinated shrimp over high heat in a wok until they just turn pink.

Add the cooked shrimp to the egg mixture.

Heat 1/4 cup of oil in the same pan over high heat, the add the egg-shrimp mixture. stirring frequently with a spatula until the egg is just cooked through.

Remove the egg and shrimp immediately to a serving platter and garnish with additional scallions. Serve with steamed white rice.