Better Ways to Keep Limited Liquid in the Shrimp?
I replaced the fresh prawns with frozen, shelled shrimp in a prawn recipe and during my first attempt, a lot of water came out while I was cooking them, causing the dish to be a little bland. After my second try, there was more flavor although the extra liquid still prevented the shrimp from browning, so I plan to follow a slightly different recipe next time in order to continue using frozen shrimp.
Below are some links to more details, including photos and tips:
My Story
Since I can have frozen shrimp ready to use, I wanted some recipes that I could reference in case I needed to prepare a quick meal. Browsing through recipes on Cooking With Lei’s website again, I found one that I believed would work.
Inspiring Recipe
The fourth recipe that I tried from Cooking With Lei’s website is Simple Prawns And Eggs Stir Fry.
First Try
With all the ingredients listed on the recipe (or a substitute) available, I started with defrosting the shrimp the night before I wanted to have this for dinner.
Ingredients to Use
Since I was planning to use two pounds of shrimp, I guessed that it would require doubling the rest of the ingredients in the recipe. Below are the updated amounts for the remaining items:
- 8 eggs
- 6 tablespoons of spring onions
- 1/8 teaspoon of salt
- 6 tablespoons of oil
- 1 tablespoon of rice wine
Aside from swapping the shrimp for the prawns, I selected avocado oil instead of olive oil based on availability. In addition, I didn’t want to waste the white parts of the spring onions, so I intended to include them as part of the ingredients.
Steps to Prepare
From the instructions, I omitted the garnish in the last step and modified steps 1 and 2.
For step 1, I included all the spring onions in the egg mixture, so they would all be cooked in step 2, instead of adding some raw ones later.
When it came to cooking, I used a wok instead of a pan. In addition, I set the temperature of the stove to medium high for the shrimp and high for the egg mixture instead of leaving it on medium the entire time as I was trying to promote the browning process.
Time to Eat
After transferring everything from the wok to a bowl, we were ready to eat.
Recipe Rating
Below are the results of the recipe after the first attempt:
| Number of Ingredients | Effort (Low🤏, Medium🤏🤏, High🤏🤏🤏) | Cost per Serving (<$2💰, $2-5💰💰, >$5💰💰💰) | Taste (Not for me🤔, Trying Again🙂, Eating Regularly😋) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6️⃣ | 🤏 | 💰💰💰 | 🙂 |
Also, the shrimp and eggs ended up quite tasteless. Lastly, the mixture never turned golden due to the excess liquid from the shrimp.
Second Try
During the following attempt, my main goal was to minimize the water source from getting into the wok. First, I targeted to defrost the shrimp for as close to 24 hours as possible, but ended up waiting 21 hours before I had to start making dinner.
Ingredients to Use
As for the ingredients, I used the same amount as I did during the first try.
Steps to Prepare
I used the same process as I did during the first attempt, but strived to keep as much of the water out of the wok as possible and used high heat to cook everything.
Since I defrosted the shrimp a few hours longer than I did the first time, more water was released, which I was able to pour out. In addition, as I was transferring the marinated shrimp to the wok, I sought to keep most of the liquid in the bowl. Despite the effort, the shrimp didn’t brown. Instead, it still steamed.
As for the egg mixture, I cooked it for about 30 seconds to 1 minute prior to stirring it, because 10 seconds wasn’t enough time for most of it to start solidifying.
Time to Eat
After the shrimp and egg stir-fry was done and placed on a plate, we were ready to taste the new batch:
Recipe Rating
According to the chart below, the results were the same:
| Number of Ingredients | Effort (Low🤏, Medium🤏🤏, High🤏🤏🤏) | Cost per Serving (<$2💰, $2-5💰💰, >$5💰💰💰) | Taste (Not for me🤔, Trying Again🙂, Eating Regularly😋) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6️⃣ | 🤏 | 💰💰💰 | 🙂 |
However, I was able to taste a light salty flavor, so reducing the water before cooking helped a little.
Although I think I can tweak the recipe more to lessen the water content, I will do the following prior to that:
Continuous Improvement
- Take advantage of a different recipe that includes starch, so the water becomes a thicker sauce that keeps the flavor on the shrimp and eggs.
Although the result of my efforts didn’t come close to the photos shown in the original recipe, I would tell my previous self the following:
Lesson for Dumber Self
- Remember that sometimes replacements aren’t perfect.
What will you do now?
Next Step for You
- Try the Simple Prawns And Eggs Stir Fry recipe from Cooking With Lei’s website as it was originally intended?
- Share a secret of how you handled a surplus of unwanted liquid when you were cooking?
- Read another post on this site? (Go to the menu at the top of the page.)