Caramelized Shrimp Paste Sugarcane Skewers — Chao Tom
Hue royal-style sugarcane skewers wrapped in a sticky shrimp paste of pounded prawns, pork fat, garlic, and shallot, grilled until the paste caramelises to a deep mahogany shell, served with vermicelli, herb plate, and nuoc cham.
Vietnamese
Categories
Nutrition per Serving
Ingredients
For 2 servings
Instructions
Prep
Mince shallot and garlic. Slice red chillies into rings, cucumber into spears, pick herb leaves from stems. Pat shrimp dry, freeze 10 minutes. Coarsely crush peanuts. Make nuoc cham: whisk fish sauce, hot water, lime juice, sugar, half the chillies off heat 1 minute until clear pale amber.
Build 1
Pound chilled shrimp, pork fat, shallot, garlic, fish sauce, sugar, white pepper, baking powder, egg whites in a mortar off heat 5 minutes until sticky elastic and pale pink.
Boil
Bring water to rolling boil over high 5 minutes. Drop vermicelli in, cook 4 minutes until just tender. Drain, rinse under cold water, shake until loose.
Build 2
Wet hands with oil. Take 60g shrimp paste, mould around each sugarcane baton into a 10cm sausage over 1 minute, leaving 3cm cane exposed at each end. Repeat with remaining paste and batons.
Grill
Heat grill pan over high 3 minutes until ripping hot. Working in batches if needed, lay skewers on, cook 5 minutes per side until paste caramelises to deep mahogany and shrimp turns opaque pink throughout.
Plate
Dip rice paper in warm water 5 seconds until pliable. Layer lettuce, vermicelli, herbs, cucumber, sugarcane skewer with paste pulled off. Scatter peanuts, serve with nuoc cham for wrapping and dipping. Repeat with remaining rice paper and ingredients.
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