Preparing Shrimp Crackers for Chinese New Year Dinner: A Delicious and Traditional Snack

Hello everyone, welcome to Souped Up Recipes! I'm Mandy, and today we're going to make shrimp crackers for my upcoming Chinese New Year dinner. This year, we're going to have a special video to show how I prepare a traditional Chinese New Year dinner which includes 9 dishes, a bowl of rice, a drink, and two snacks. The shrimp cracker is one of the snacks that I love so much because nobody can resist it. You can make it ahead of time and serve it right away when your guests come over.

To start making our shrimp crackers, we'll need 150g of peeled and deveined shrimp. Add them to a food processor along with some seasonings. Half a teaspoon of salt, one and a half tablespoons of fish sauce. If you don't have fish sauce, you can use one teaspoon of salt instead of half a teaspoon. I just love the funky umami flavor from the fish sauce. Continue by adding one tablespoon of finely minced garlic, one-half tablespoon of finely minced ginger, and one teaspoon of soy sauce. Now we'll add our shrimp to the food processor and process until everything is well combined.

Once our mixture is ready, it's time to shape our shrimp crackers. You can do this by wetting your hands with a little water and then using a small amount of the mixture to shape into thin slices. Make sure they're all about one millimeter thick so that they cook evenly when we deep fry them later. Now let's place our crackers on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to set.

After our crackers have chilled, it's time to slice them into even thinner pieces. This requires a good knife and patience. Well, take it as a chance to practice your knife skills. You could use a slicer if your slicer can do one millimeter thick cuts. Do not cut the crackers too thick, or they'll be chewy and tough. Our shrimp tapioca slices need to be fully dehydrated.

There are a few ways to dry our shrimp crackers, but we're going to start with the oven method. Preheat your oven to 150 degrees Fahrenheit, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the crackers on the baking sheet in a single layer, making sure they don't touch each other. Now let's put them in the oven and dehydrate for about three to four hours, or until they're dry and slightly flexible.

Now that our shrimp crackers are dry, it's time to deep fry them. Bring the oil to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and drop eight to ten slices of shrimp crackers into the hot oil. They should puff up in just two seconds. If yours take longer than two seconds, that means either you sliced them too thick, or the oil's temperature is too low. Fish them out with a slotted spoon and shake off the excess oil.

Once our shrimp crackers are fried, we can enjoy them as a delicious and crunchy snack. And the best part? They're better than any store-bought shrimp crackers! I suggest making a big batch because they do go really fast. You can store them in a mason jar at room temperature for up to six months. Just heat up some oil, drop in the shrimp crackers, and they'll be ready to serve in five seconds.

I hope you enjoy making these delicious shrimp crackers as much as I did! They're perfect for any occasion, whether it's Chinese New Year or just a quick snack at home. And don't forget to check out my recipe on my website: soupeduprecipes.com. Don't forget to hit the like button and share this video with your friends and family, and look for my Chinese New Year dinner episode which will be published on January 31st.

Thank you for watching, and I'll see you next time! Bye.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enHi everyone, welcome to Souped Up Recipes.I'm Mandy. Today we're making shrimp crackers for my upcoming Chinese New Year dinner. Yes,  this year, we're going to have a special video to show how I prepare a traditional Chinese New Year  dinner which includes 9 dishes, a bowl of rice, a drink, and two snacks. The shrimp cracker is one  of the snacks. I love it so much because nobody can resist it. You can make it ahead of time  and serve it right away when your guest comes over. Alright, let's get the start on it.You'll need 150g of peeled and deveined shrimp. Add it to  a food processor along with some seasonings.1/2 tsp of salt,1.5 tbsp of fish sauce. If  you don't have fish sauce, you can use 1 tsp of salt instead of 1/2 tsp. I just love the funky  umami flavor from the fish sauce. Continue by adding 1 tbsp of finely minced garlic, 1/2 tbsp of finely minced ginger,1 tsp of garlic powder, 1 tsp of onion powder,1/2 tsp of Five-spice powder, 1/2 tsp of freshly ground white pepper or to taste. It should be as fine as possible  so it doesn't affect the texture. Toss in 30g of crushed ice. When the machine is running,  it creates a lot of heat. Adding ice will make sure your shrimp stays fresh and cold. Blend  this as fine as possible. If you don't eat shrimp, you can change it to fish  or squid. Stop the machine a few times and go in there with your spatula to stir everything.This is the texture that you are looking for, a smooth shrimp paste.Add the tapioca starch in batches, and give a rough mix.Then keep running at low speed. Other types of starch such as mung bean starch,  potato starch, and corn starch will also work, but Tapioca is the best because it contains a  higher percentage of amylopectin, which makes your shrimp cracker puff up bigger. Also,  depending on the brand and the types of starch. You will have a different water absorption rate.  The measurement that I gave is for reference. You should adjust the water amount depending on your  situation. Soon, all the flour would form into a dough. Let's check. If it sticks to a hand,  you can add a little bit more starch and continue to mix. If it is nonstick like that,  you can transfer everything onto a working surface. Shape it into a long, even, smooth log.Cut the log into two manageable pieces.Bring a pot of water to a boil and drop the logs. In the beginning, they will sink. You have to move  them around to prevent them from sticking to the bottom. After a couple of minutes, they will float  up. Then you can turn the heat to low, put on the lid, and simmer this for at least 30 minutes. This  is a very thick dough, so it takes a long time to cook it through. Let me show you one of my failure  examples. The outside is puffed up perfectly, but the inside is not. That's because I only simmered  the logs for about 15 minutes. The outside is cooked through completely, but the center is  not fully gelatinized, so it cannot puff up. You can compare the size, which is a huge difference.  Okay, once they are done cooking, they will look like they are doubled in size. That is normal,  just turn off the heat and transfer them onto a rack. Right now, you cannot slice them as they  are very sticky. We will put them into the fridge uncovered for 30 hours. After a long  time of chilling, the locks become smaller, the color becomes darker. It is very firm like rubber.We will slice it into 1mm thick pieces. This requires a good knife and patience.  Well, take it as a chance to practice your knife skills. You could use a slicer if your  slicer can do 1mm thick cut. Do not cut it too thick. Otherwise, the crackers will be chewy and  tough. These shrimp tapioca slices need to be fully dehydrated. There are a few ways to do that.  Number one you can line them on the rack and stick them into the dehydrator.Set the temperature at 120℉ and dehydrate for 4 to 5 hours.  Number two you can stick them into the oven and set the temperature at the lowest possible. It  should be below 150 ℉. If your oven's minimum temperature cannot go down to 150℉, you can use  a tool to prop the oven door to keep it slightly open. So the actual temperature inside is lower.  The oven dehydration method will be a lot faster like 3-4 hours. Method number three,  if you don't have a dehydrator or an oven, you can place the strength crackers under the ceiling fan  overnight. All right I'll show you how they look after they're done. Once they are dehydrated,  they'll be much smaller and they feel like plastic now.The next step is to deep fry them. Bring the oil to 400℉ and drop 8 to 10 slices of  shrimp crackers. They should puff up in just 2 seconds. If yours take longer than two seconds,  that means either you slice them too thick, or the oil's temperature is too low.  Fish them out and shake off the excess oil. Continue to fry the  next batch. I love doing this. It's so satisfying to watch them blossom.We have already seasoned them fully, so you don't need to sprinkle any salt and pepper after deep  frying. It's so delicious, better than any shrimp crackers that you can get from the store. I  suggest you make a big batch, though, because they do go really fast. I usually store them in a mason  jar and they stay good at room temperature for up to six months. This is a great party snack. When  your guests come over, just heat up the oil, drop in the shrimp crackers, and they will be ready to  serve in 5 seconds. Trust me, no one can say no to these lovely treats. I hope you give this a try  soon. As always, the recipe will be on my website:soupeduprecipes.com Don't forget to hit the like button and share this video with your friends and families.  That really encourages me to continue to make more delicious recipes. Also,  make sure you look for my Chinese New Year dinner episode. It will be published on Jan. 31st.Thank you for watching, and I'll see you next time. Bye.\n"