The restaurant serves a duo of shrimp dishes—one with garlic, and one with cilantro and green chilies. They steam the shrimp in a flavorful sauce, with glass noodles at the bottom, and it’s really a great combination of flavors. We figured we’d do something similar! Live, fresh shrimp are quite common in Asia and even the inland location of Beijing is no exception. You can find live shrimp in Asian grocery stores in the U.S. as well, in any location that has a seafood department. However, I am happy to report that the first few runs of these recipes during the development process were done with fresh frozen shrimp, and they worked as well. It certainly made the prep process easier.
Heck, just ask Sarah. She was trying to photograph the shrimp, a couple of which were still pretty lively and jumping off the table. She nearly fell off the chair she was standing on! Anyways, the point is: if you’re a bit squeamish or have little experience with live seafood, just head to the freezer section and you’ll be fine!
Recipe Instructions
Split the shrimp in half to the tail, leaving the tail whole. Soak the mung bean glass noodles in warm water for 20 minutes and drain. For the garlic version, put the minced garlic into a bowl of hot water for a minute and strain. This takes some of the edge off of the garlic, and makes it sweeter once steamed. Combine the strained garlic with another 1/4 cup fresh water, sugar, light soy sauce, and Shaoxing wine. For the cilantro green chili version, pound the minced green chilies and 1/4 teaspoon salt together in a mortar and pestle. Set aside for 30 minutes. Then mix in the cilantro, sugar, water, light soy sauce, and Shaoxing wine. Spread out the glass noodles in two shallow, heat-safe bowls. Fan out equal amounts of shrimp on each plate. Spoon the prepared sauces evenly over each of the shrimp dishes.
Boil water in a steamer or wok with a steamer rack and place the dishes inside. See our post on how to set up a steamer if you’re not familiar with steaming foods in Chinese cooking. Cover immediately and steam for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. The shrimp should be opaque and but not over-cooked. Keep a close eye on it, and adjust the steaming time according to the size of your shrimp. Once you take the shrimp out, spoon the liquid over the shrimp and serve immediately.
The glass noodles will soak up the excess sauce. Enjoy!
