Lunar New Year recipes: two shrimp dishes to bring happiness and help celebrate the Year of the Rat
- Garlic and chilli shrimp, and stir-fried shrimp with sugar peas – dishes that will bring happiness in the Year of the Rat and help you celebrate, too
- Best made using whole shrimp, these recipes can also be prepared with peeled fresh shrimp
With the Year of the Rat almost upon us, it’s time to start thinking of auspicious ingredients for celebration meals. Shrimp are popular year-round because they are easy to cook, but they are especially important for Lunar New Year meals because they represent happiness.
Garlic and chilli shrimp
For this dish, I like to use fresh shrimp with the heads and shells on. The shrimp are fried first to crisp up the heads and shells, before being stir-fried briefly with the other ingredients. The Chinese way of eating them is to bite off the head and suck out the intense juices (the heads are edible but can be discarded), then squeeze the meat out of the shell using your teeth.
If you are serving the shrimp in polite company, peel them first, starting with 1kg. (Use the heads and shells to make shrimp stock: boil them for about 30 minutes, then strain through a colander into a bowl.) Or to save time, buy peeled fresh shrimp.
500 grams whole fresh shrimp, with body size (excluding the head) about 6cm long
Cornstarch, as necessary
1 onion, about 250 grams, peeled