How curried shrimp/prawn toast came to be…
As is the case with most recipes on this blog, I must say that my husband, or rather his incessant requests, is again responsible for this recipe. To be honest, I had never even heard of shrimp toast (or prawn toast as the Brits like to say) until he brought it up.
The combination of a shrimp puree spread on toast, which is then fried, seems to be a unique creation that only the British and Chinese could cobble together.
So one Chinese New Year celebration dinner, I decided to try my hand at making this deep-fried goody at home. Considering that I am VERY good at frying things, I thought it would be a simple thing to throw together.
I researched recipes and picked a simple example consisting of white bread with shrimp pureed with Tom Yum paste. The rationale of the Tom Yum paste was that it already had all the spices and seasoning you would need to compliment the shrimp. Sounds good, right?
Unfortunately for me, I wouldn’t know. In my frazzled mind while haphazardly shopping I forgot all about the Tom Yum paste and picked up Thai yellow curry paste instead.
The result was actually AMAZINGLY delicious. Forget about Tom Yum. Thai yellow curry paste is where it is at! Since then, I have never looked back and this had now become my favorite prawn toast recipe.
Fresh vs. Frozen
A big helping of fresh shrimp is a beautiful thing to behold. Shrimp in cocktail sauce, garlic laden shrimp scampi, beer-battered beauties of fried shrimp, the list goes on. You name it and it is enticing.
But pureeing beautiful specimens of this seafood to make shrimp/ prawn toast? My heart always hurts a little. Especially if that shrimp is fresh and ready to go into the fryer to make for tempura.
For this reason, I like to use cheap frozen shrimp that are also already cleaned, deveined and deshelled. They are ready to be blitzed in a food processor and are made good use of because let’s face it – there really isn’t much you can do with cheap frozen seafood.
If you don’t feel the same way and want to use fresh shrimp for this recipe, go on ahead. It is equally as delicious.
Not all curry pastes are equal
A good Thai curry paste will need nothing added to it to make it complete. No added sugar, fish sauce, or kaffir lime leaves are needed to make it right. Take the time to either make your own Thai yellow curry paste and keep it in the freezer for a rainy day or taste test store-bought brands until you find your preferred one. Since this recipe is relatively simple, a good curry paste is really important and makes all the difference.
Deep-Fried Curried Sesame Shrimp/Prawn Toast
- Total Time: 14 minutes
- Yield: 16 appetizers 1x
Description
A very easy and quick recipe for fried shrimp/ prawn toast spiced with Thai yellow curry paste! Perfect as an appetizer or for dim sum. #appetizer #starter #shrimp #prawn #curry #dimsum
Ingredients
500 g (1.1lb) frozen shrimp
1 tbsp Thai yellow curry paste*
2–3 tbsp sesame seeds
4 pieces of white bread
oil for frying
chopped scallions (for garnish)
Instructions
Rinse frozen shrimp under cold water in a colander until thawed. Let drain for a minute or two.
In a food processor, blitz together thawed shrimp with 1 tbsp of Thai yellow paste until smooth.
Place 1-2 tbsp of the curried shrimp paste onto each piece of bread. Spread evenly and press down making sure to seal the edges to the bread using the back of a fork or spatula. Make sure the paste is sticking to the bread otherwise it will come apart when frying.
Sprinkle the raw shrimp toast with sesame seeds and lightly press the seeds down into the spread. This will help them stick and not detach when frying.
Using a sharp knife, cut the toast diagonally into 4 triangles. After cutting, make sure that the shrimp paste is still sealed and sticking to the bread.
In a large frying pan or wok, heat a generous amount of oil over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot (you’ll know if you drop a little bit of batter into it and the oil bubbles around it), fry the toasts in hot oil until golden. This shouldn’t take too long (about 3-4 minutes at most).
Remove from oil and let drain on paper towns to soak up any excess oil. Feel free to sprinkle more sesame seeds on top.
Sprinkle with chopped scallions when ready to serve and pair with a small bowl of Chinese black vinegar to dip it.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 min
- Category: Appetizer, Starter, Dim Sum
- Method: deep frying
- Cuisine: Asian
Keywords: dim sum, shrimp toast, prawn toast, shrimp, prawn, Thai yellow curry, sesame seeds, bread, appetizer, starter, curried shrimp
Need more recipes for Thai yellow curry? Try these:
Easy Food Processor Thai Yellow Curry Paste
Hoki poached in Thai yellow curry w/peppers & potatoes
