Shrimp cakes. This is very much a home-cooking dish and popular in coastal cities in China where shrimp are plentiful.
The key to a good Chinese shrimp cake is maintaining the shrimp’s natural sweetness and crunchiness.
This is why I actually like to recommend using frozen shrimp––they are immediately frozen at their freshest state, and you can’t go wrong with them.
Just remember this cardinal rule––NEVER refreeze defrosted shrimp, or they’ll end up mushy!
Variations & Cooking Tips
With good quality shrimp in hand, you can make many variations of these shrimp cakes, so don’t limit yourself to just this recipe. I’ll leave you with a few key pointers, so you can be free to create your own shrimp cake masterpiece:
- In Chinese cooking, shrimp goes really well with ginger, scallions and/or cilantro, so adjust these aromatics based on your preferences.
- You do want to be able to taste the flavor of the shrimp itself, so avoid overloading it with too many heavy spices.
- To avoid the shrimp cakes falling apart during pan-frying, it’s important to use vegetables that do not produce too much liquid when cooked, like the carrots and water chestnuts in this recipe. If you would like to use a fairly “wet” vegetable like a leafy green, you must blanch them and thoroughly squeeze out any liquid before chopping and adding to the shrimp mixture.
- Most importantly, spend the time to whip the shrimp with the vegetable ingredients to create a sticky paste-like texture. This will ensure a crunchy, light texture in the finished shrimp cakes.
Hope this shrimp cake recipe has made it to you in time for your Chinese New Year celebrations!
Chinese Shrimp Cakes: Recipe Instructions
Thaw the shrimp and pat them dry with a paper towel. Transfer to a cutting board.
Lightly “smash” them with the side of a knife, and coarsely chop them.
Be careful not mince the shrimp into pieces that are too small.
Split a small carrot (about 50 g) in half crosswise and then lengthwise, and blanch the pieces in boiling water for about 2 minutes until lightly softened. Drain and finely dice the blanched carrot.
In a mixing bowl, combine the coarsely chopped shrimp, finely diced carrot, minced water chestnuts, ¼ cup cilantro, 1 teaspoon grated ginger, 2 teaspoons Shaoxing wine, ½ teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper, 2 teaspoons oyster sauce, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, ¼ teaspoon sugar, 1 teaspoon cornstarch, and egg white.
Whip everything together for about 5 to 10 minutes in one direction, until the mixture is sticky and all ingredients are well combined.
You should be able to gather and press it into one big smooth ball with a rubber spatula (i.e., it should be very sticky and cohesive).
Now, heat a flat bottomed frying pan over medium high heat (nonstick or cast iron works best), until it starts to smoke lightly. Add 2 tablespoons oil and turn the heat down to medium.
Take a large spoonful of the shrimp mixture, and use another spoon to form a ball. You can also do this with oiled hands.
Drop it into the pan and quickly press it into a disc. (To avoid sticking, you can brush the spoons with oil beforehand.)
Pan-fry each side for about 3 minutes, until golden brown.
Add the last tablespoon of oil if needed during pan-frying. This recipe makes about 10 shrimp cakes.
Chinese Shrimp Cakes
Ingredients
- 1 pound shrimp (450g, thawed, peeled and deveined)
- 1 small carrot (about 50g)
- 5 water chestnuts (minced, freshly peeled or from a can)
- 1/4 cup cilantro (15 g, finely chopped)
- 1 teaspoon ginger (grated)
- 2 teaspoons Shaoxing wine
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
- 2 teaspoons oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 egg white
- 3 tablespoons oil (for pan-frying)
Instructions
- Pat the shrimp dry with a paper towel. Lightly “smash” them with the side of a knife, and coarsely chop them. Be careful not mince the shrimp into pieces that are too small.
- Split a small carrot (about 50 g) in half crosswise and then lengthwise, and blanch the pieces in boiling water for about 2 minutes until lightly softened. Drain and finely dice the blanched carrot.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the coarsely chopped shrimp, finely diced carrot, minced water chestnuts, ¼ cup cilantro, 1 teaspoon grated ginger, 2 teaspoons Shaoxing wine, ½ teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper, 2 teaspoons oyster sauce, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, ¼ teaspoon sugar, 1 teaspoon cornstarch, and 1 egg white. Whip everything together for about 5 to 10 minutes in one direction, until the mixture is sticky and all ingredients are well combined. You should be able to gather it into one big smooth ball with a rubber spatula, i.e. it should be sticky and cohesive.
- Now, heat a flat bottomed frying pan over medium high heat (nonstick or cast iron works best), until it starts to smoke lightly. Add 2 tablespoons oil and turn the heat down to medium. Take a large spoonful of the shrimp mixture, and use another spoon to form a ball. You can also do this with oiled hands.
- Drop it into the pan and quickly press it into a disc. (To avoid sticking, you can brush the spoons with oil beforehand.)
- Pan-fry each side for about 3 minutes, until golden brown. Add the last tablespoon of oil if needed during pan-frying.
I wanted to try this since you first posted it and the shrimp cakes were very good. I used two different types of shrimp and one was definitely easier to smush a little before chopping. My only complaint is about the water chestnuts. I’m not a fan of water chestnuts or bamboo shoots because I always get an aftertaste. I minced the water chestnuts very fine, but still have the aftertaste of them two hours later and counting. Would love it if you could suggest an alternate ingredient. Thanks!
Absolutely delicious!!! Searched for a recipe to use up surplus water chestnuts… had everything else in the house. Instructions for whipping the mixture 5-10 mins spot on!
Nice! So glad you enjoyed it :-)
Trying them out tomorrow for a dinner party. I need to make them in advance. Any recommendations how to reheat?
Hi Camilla, you should make it up to the “pan-frying step” and also pre-make the patties the night before. Pan-fry them before serving, since they cook pretty fast.
Made these two nights ago. Easy to assemble and cook. Because I can’t ever follow a recipe exactly (except when baking-that’s chemistry!) I added diced king oyster and coarsely chopped spinach. Parboiled both for a couple of minutes and squeezed out excess water before adding to mixture. Also added a bit more corn starch and egg white (used pourable egg whites from supermarket). Put it into the bowl of my stand mixer with the paddle and let it go at medium-low speed for 10 minutes or so. Got nice and sticky. Patties held together well while frying and taste was terrific. Had these only once before at A&J in Maryland.
Nicely done :-)
This is a great recipe! Very good flavors and quite easy. As a naturally lazy person, instead of spending time to whip it into a paste, I added flour in place of egg and it stayed together during pan frying. Also used fresh shiitake and oyster mushrooms along with carrots as the vegetables. Soooooooo yum…thank you, Judy!
Hi C.C., although using flour is a good idea, the cakes are less juicy because flour soaked up all the juice. Try it without flour next time :-)
I made these last night and they were DELICIOUS, but I also had trouble with the first ones sticking together. I’ve read the comments now, and will beat the mixture more next time. I also would say to be sure to mince up the ingredients really fine and to let the first side fry to a nice crispy brown before flipping. Both of these things will help the cake hold together.
Sounds lovely and thank you for sharing your cooking tips, Sabrina.
Hi – I made these on CNY eve and everyone loved the flavors and texture. Thanks for adding a new dish to our family menu!
YAY!!!
Made these last night for Chinese New Year. They were delicious, full of flavour. Can’t wait to make them again.
Us too, they were delicious :-)
They were so good that we made them again on Valentine’s Day.
LOVE IT!!!
I made this last night and it taste great. But the only problem I had was that it didn’t stick together – it didn’t end up like a pattie. Should I put more corn starch?
Hi Angela, this means you did not mix it enough. The mixture should be visibly sticky once properly mixed! :-)
I also made these last night and they were delicious, but I didn’t beat them enough to get the stickiness for the patties to hold shape. However, that was my fault and it had amazing flavors regardless!
So glad you enjoyed it, Margi.
I also had this problem, even though my mix was very sticky after being mixed for over ten minutes. I managed to partially resolve the problem on the second batch by forming the balls with my hand and squeezing hard to release some excess liquid.
Hi David, 1) I will add an egg white to the recipe to further bind the mixture. 2) Another point is that the vegetables should be very finely chopped to help binding. 3) In this case, natural juice from the shrimp is not a problem, no need to squeeze hard :-)