Singapore Chili Shrimps

This Singapore Chili Shrimps is our take on the delicious Singapore Chilli Crab but with a simpler and more affordable protein : shrimps! This recipe is spicy, savory and packed with flavors, with the sauce being the star of the show. It's the perfect dish to eat with a bowl of steaming bowl of white rice!

Inspiration behind the dish

Singapore Chilli Crab has always been one of Alvin's favourite dishes growing up. Where we live, practically no restaurant serves this dish. We created this recipe because we wanted to satisfy our cravings and let’s just say we can’t always fly 20 hours to Singapore! (we wished though!) So many times we wanted to try to make this dish at home, but decided not to because 1: cooking it with crab looks intimidating, and 2: the main protein is pretty darn expensive! And what's another seafood that’s cheaper, easier to work with, and tastes just as good with the sauce? Shrimps! It’s way easier to cook and goes really well with that spicy, sweet, tomato-ey flavour of the sauce. And this is how we made Singapore chili shrimps!

More related recipes:

• Nasi Goreng
• Indonesian Chicken Satay with Spicy Peanut Sauce

What is Singapore Chili Sauce?

You know, in life, there's two kinds of people. Sauce people and ... who even cares about the other kind? You guessed it, we’re sauce people. And even more so when the dish is served with a bowl of steamed white rice. You gotta give us enough sauce to put over our rice, am I right!? This Singapore Chili sauce is amazing and pairs so nicely with seafood. This tomate-based sauce is traditionally served with crab, but as it's not always easy to get fresh crab, we decided to make it with shrimps as it is more accessible. The sauce is spicy, savory, slightly sweet, and oh-so-glorious. You have to try it to understand why we love it so much!

Which shrimps to use?

We recommend using medium to large shrimps, with the shells on. When the shells are on, the shrimps becomes more savory as they're so much flavor in those shells! And pair it with the sauce... It's just so delicious. We sometimes even make it with shrimps that have their heads on. In Asian culture, it's a delicacy, but we understand it might not be everybody's taste. We love it and believe that the sauce elevate it to the next level! As for fresh vs. frozen, nowadays, we don't have much of a preference. Of course nothing beats fresh, but it's so convenient to have a bad of frozen shrimps in the refrigerator ready to be defrosted and eaten, right?

How to serve Singapore Chili Shrimps?

This dish is traditionally served with steamed or fried Chinese buns, however we love to serve it with a steaming bowl of white rice! Serve it alongside with stir-fried veggies, and you've got yourself a balanced meal.

Ingredients

Paste

• Thai red chilies, garlic, shallot, ginger and white sugar is the base for any great chili paste. This will make a pretty spicy paste as we love our sauce we a big kick of flavor, but if you prefer a milder sauce, cut down the quantity of chilies.

Sauce

• Fermented soybean paste to add an extra savory note and will make your sauce more complex in flavor. We use this one.
• Tomato paste as this is actually a tomato-base chili sauce.
• Chicken broth to create the sauce and will make it more flavorful than just plain water.
• Cornstarch and water will create the cornstarch slurry and create the desired consistency for the chili sauce.
• Egg is the secret ingredient to make the sauce thick and delicious!

Chili Shrimps

• Shrimps with the shells still on as they will retain the sauce better and actually become more flavorful with the shells. If you dare, you can even use shrimps with the heads on. They're so delicious with this Singaporean chili sauce!
• Oil for cooking.
• Coriander and green onions for topping. They both add freshness to the dish and a little bit of green never hurt anyone!

Instructions

Prep the chili paste. Grind the chili, shallots, garlic, ginger, and sugar to make a chili-garlic paste. You can use a mortar and pestle or a food processor to do this. Set aside.

Prep the sauce. In a small bowl, combine the fermented soy bean paste and tomato paste. Set aside. Prepare the cornstarch slurry by mixing 1/2 tablespoon of cornstarch with 1 tablespoon of water.

Cook the chili paste. In a pan, heat 2 tbsp of canola oil over medium high heat and add in the chili-garlic paste. Stir fry for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add in the tomato paste mixture and stir to combine. Stir fry for another 30 seconds. Add in the chicken broth, stir to combine and bring sauce to a boil.

Cook shrimps. Add the shrimps (shell-on) into the sauce and let cook for about 1 minute on each side, or until cooked thoroughly. Remove the shrimps from the pan and transfer to a bowl and set aside (let the sauce in the pan with the heat on).

Make the sauce. Add the cornstarch slurry into the sauce while continuously stirring and bring sauce back to a boil. Add in the beaten egg and stir. Let cook for another minute or until eggs are cooked but still soft.

Combine together. Add in the cooked shrimps into the sauce and stir until well combined. Top with some cilantro and green onions and serve with a bowl of white rice.