Shrimp Wrapper is a traditional Taiwanese dish that can be found all over Taiwan, but it’s especially famous at old port cities and fishing villages in Taiwan, such as Tainan. It is believed that the dish was introduced to Taiwan when Koxinga took Taiwan from the Dutch colonists. The dish was originally served with meat; but over time, as a way for the fish merchants to deal with unsold fish and shrimps, the fish was made into fish paste and meat wrapper became shrimp wrapper.
Ingredients
- Shrimp, 150g
- Fish paste, 150g
- Green onion, 1 tablespoon chopped
- Water chestnut, 5 pieces
- 1/2 Egg white
- Rice wine, 1/2 teaspoon
- Water, 1 tablespoon
- Cornstarch, 1/2 tablespoon
- Pepper, 1/4 teaspoon
- Sugar, 1/4 teaspoon
- Bean curd, 2 pieces (can be substituted with wonton wrapper)
- Vegetable oil, 4 cups (if using regular fryer). 1-2 teaspoon if using airfryer.
Making the Filling
- Peel and rinse the shrimp. Clean the shrimp by tossing it with salt. Rinse, dry, and cut into to several pieces
- Peel and chop water chestnuts into small pieces (or find canned water chestnut that is already peeled)
- Combine remaining ingredients except fish paste
- Combine fish paste with mixture from step 3, cut shrimp, and chopped water chestnuts
Wrapping
Cut bean curd into 10 cm x 10 cm (or use a wonton wrapper) sheets, wrap the filling inside.
Cooking
Deep fry the wrappers until they float. With an air fryer, fry them at 390 degree for 10 minutes.
Set it and forget it!
*We followed the recipe by Lin Shu Lien, Taiwan Common Food, 鐘文出版社, 1997, with some modifications.