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Deep - Fried Shrimp Toast
(Hsia - Jen - Tu - Ssu)
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| What You Need: |
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˝ pound fresh shrimp in their shells
4 slices homemade-type white bread
2 tablespoons fresh pork fat
4 peeled fresh water chestnuts or rinsed, drained canned water chestnuts
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine, or pale dry sherry
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3 cups peanut oil, or flavorless vegetable oil
16 leaves of fresh Chinese parsley (cilantro), or substitute flat-leaf Italian parsley
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| How To Cook: |
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PREPARE AHEAD:
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1. Shell the shrimp. With a small, sharp knife, devein them by making a shallow incision down their backs and lifting out the black or white intestinal vein with the point of the knife.
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2. With a cleaver or heavy, sharp knife, chop the shrimp until they are reduced to a fine pulp like mass. With a cleaver or sharp knife, trim the bread slices of their crusts and discard the crusts. Cut the bread into quarters or, diagonally, into triangles.
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3. Chop the pork fat and water chestnuts together as fine as possible, and, in a small bowl, combine them with the shrimp. Add the wine, salt, lightly beaten egg and cornstarch, and, with a large spoon or your fingers, mix them together thoroughly until they form a paste.
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4. With a knife or spatula, spread an equal amount of the shrimp mixture on the bread squares or triangles, mounding them slightly in the centers. For decoration, gently press a fresh parsley leaf into the center of each mound.
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5. Have the above ingredients, the oil, and a large, shallow baking pan lined with a double thickness of paper towels within easy reach.
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TO COOK:
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1. Preheat the oven to 250°F. Pour 3 cups of oil into a 12-inch wok or large deep-fryer and heat the oil until a haze forms above it or it registers 375°F on a deep-frying thermometer.
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2. Shrimp side down; drop in the bread squares about 6 at a time (the filling will not fall off). Fry for about 1 minute, then gently turn them over in the fat with a large slotted spoon.
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3. Fry for 1 minute longer until the bread and shrimp topping are golden brown. Then turn them over again and fry them for another minute.
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4. Drain each batch in the lined baking pan and keep them warm in the oven until all the shrimp toast is fried. Serve on a heated platter as a hors d'oeuvre.
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To Make: 16 hors d'oeuvre pale dry sherry
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