Crispy Shrimp Toast Recipe

Shrimp toast might seem like a typically Chinese-American appetizer, something you'd typically find on a pu pu platter at the type of old-school restaurant that serves tiki drinks, but it turns out to be a Chinese creation. Authentic though it may be, it's admittedly not the healthiest dish on the menu, especially when deep-fried instead of baked. Even so, it's a super-tasty treat that's okay to indulge in every once in a while.

If you make shrimp toast at home instead of ordering takeout, it can actually be fairly budget-friendly since there's no reason not to use the smallest, cheapest shrimp you can find. As a bonus, the shrimpiest of shrimp may even come pre-peeled so they could save you some prep work. As for how the shrimp toast from this recipe compares to the restaurant version, recipe developer Catherine Brookes assures us, "It tastes just like takeout with loads of authentic Asian flavors packed in," and she also notes that it is "fun and surprisingly easy to make, too."

You'll need shrimp to make shrimp toast, of course, and Brookes says there's "no problem using any type of shrimp here." She does say, though, that if you're using frozen ones you should first defrost them. You'll also need bread for the toast part, with Brookes recommending the store-bought, pre-sliced kind of white bread. As she explains, it's "generally the best option here due to each slice being a similar thickness." The other ingredients necessary for this recipe are green onions (both the green and white parts), cilantro, garlic, ginger, an egg white, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, sesame seeds, and sufficient vegetable oil to deep fry the toast.

Take the first 10 ingredients, these being the shrimp, onions, cilantro, garlic, ginger, egg, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, and salt, and combine them in a food processor. Puree the mixture until you have a smooth paste. No need to worry about over-processing here since you don't need the shrimp paste to retain any chunkiness.

Take the bread slices — which you should already have de-crusted — and spread each one with shrimp pate on one side. The shrimp paste should go from edge to edge, leaving no empty space. Once you've shrimped up the bread, sprinkle it with sesame seeds to cover the shrimp layer. Pat the sesame seeds down so they stick to the shrimp. Brookes admits that "It's normal for a small amount of the seeds to fall off during prep or frying," but says patting them down helps them to stay on.

Heat the oil until it reaches 350 F, using a deep-fry thermometer to ensure that it reaches the proper frying temperature as too-cool oil means soggy toast while too-hot oil is a fire hazard.. Fry the bread with the plain side down for 2 minutes, then turn it over and fry it with the sesame/shrimp side down. You may need to work in batches so as not to overcrowd the pot since this will cause the temperature to drop.

As each slice of toast finishes frying, drain it on paper towels to sop up the grease. When the toast is cool enough to handle, cut each slice in half across the diagonal to make 12 pieces. If you want a condiment for your shrimp toast, Brookes suggests soy sauce, although you could also mix in some rice vinegar, chili garlic sauce, and maybe a tiny pinch of sugar to make a dip that's tangy and spicy as well as salty.