Postcard From My Kitchen: Honey Walnut Shrimp Recipe by Bee Yinn Low | San Diego Lifestyle Photographer

II hate mayonnaise. OK, maybe the word hate is a strong word, but I’m not a big fan. But, man, do I love this sweet, savory, crunchy, and creamy dish! Sounds impossible for one dish to be all four things at once, right? Oh, by jove it is! (By jove? Who says that?! I just finished watching the movie, The Great Gatsby, so I blame it on that…old sport.)

While growing up, I would ask my parents to order this every time we go out to a Chinese restaurant. I’ve tried making it three times. The first was a total fail, mainly because I did everything from scratch, including shelling and deveining the shrimp, and the recipe I found sucked. The last two times I made Honey Walnut Shrimp, it was  spot on to Chinese restaurant quality. I credit it to Bee Yinn Low’s recipe from her recipe book, Easy Chinese Recipes. I didn’t follow it exactly because I tweaked the recipe to my liking. Below is the recipe with my tips and modifications in italics. Pictures are all taken with my iPhone. Here’s a postcard from my kitchen:

Honey Walnut Shrimp Recipe

Serves 4. (Or if you’re dining with people who share my voracious appetite,  serves two.)

Ingredients

8 oz. medium raw shrimp, shelled and deveined (butterflly the shrimp if you wish). I used the frozen, uncooked, shelled shrimp with the tails on. I thawed the shrimp first, of course.

1 Tbsp. egg white

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup cornstarh

I mixed the cornstarch with a couple dashes of white pepper

non-flavored oil for frying (vegetable, canola)

Dressing

Helpful Tip: Follow Bee Yin Low’s instructions and then adjust it to your liking. I added more milk and honey because the dressing tasted too much like mayonnaise to me.

1/2 Tbsp. condensed milk (I used 1 Tbsp. because I cooked a little more shrimp, plus I like this dish saucy!)

1/2 Tbsp. honey (Again, I used 1 Tbsp.)

1 tsp. fresh lemon juice

3 Tbsp mayonnaise (I used  5 Tbsp. mayonnaise. I highly recommend using real mayonnaise, otherwise it won’t taste right. This is definitely a “cheat day” dish.)

Glazed Walnuts

1/2 cup walnut halves (I was out of walnuts because I used it all up for brownies–I mean, um, healthy trail mix. I substituted pecans instead.)

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup sugar

Directions

Pat the shrimp dry and mix with salt and scrambled egg white to evenly coat. Let the shrip marinate for 30 minutes while you prep.

Make the Glazed Walnuts:

Rinse the walnut halves with cold water, drain, and set aside. In a small saucepan, bring the water to a boil and add the sugar. Stir until the glaze thickens. Lower the heat to medium and add the walnut halves. Stir until the mixture becomes a golden brown or caramel in color. Pour the walnuts out onto a plate to cool (make sure that you separate them otherwise the walnuts will clump together once the caramel hardens).

Helpful tip: Don’t pour the walnuts on paper towels. The paper will get stuck on the walnuts. This totally happened to me in attempt #1. 

Make the Dressing:

In a small bowl, mix the condensed milk, honey, lemon juice, and mayonnaise together.

Fry the Shrimp:

Fish out the shrimp from the egg marinade and dust with the cornstarch making sure to get an even coating on each shrimp. Heat 2-3 inches of oil in a medium pot to a temperature of about 350 degrees F. Carefully drop the shrimp one by one into the oil. Work in small batches and fry until the shrimp is golden brown. Scoop the shrimp out (with your weapon of choice: a strainer, slotted spoon, etc. I like to use tongs or if I’m feeling super authentic and my carpal tunnel isn’t bothering me, I use chopsticks). Drain the shrimp on paper towels. Combine the shrimp and the dressing in a bowl and toss lightly to coat the shrimp. Serve with the candied walnuts over the shrimp. (I  quickly stirfried broccoli with salt and pepper to serve on the side. And of course, steamed some white rice.)

This is not really a difficult dish to make, it’s just a bit time-consuming. Any time that you have to fry, or use some type of batter, the kitchen gets a little messy. The time and the extra elbow grease is well worth it, though. I used pre-shelled shrimp, and that helped reduce time. You can also buy pre-glazed walnuts to save time. I was able to knock this out in about 45 minutes. (I cooked more shrimp than the recipe called for, too.) Give it a go, and let me know how it turns out!

XOXO,

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