Oahu Rock Shrimp with Sprout Slaw and Asian Cocktail Sauce
Sprouts of all kinds are delicious in this slaw. Try mung and azuki bean sprouts or lentil sprouts, available in natural foods stores. They all work well. If you cannot find the purple Okinawan sweet potato, a regular sweet potato will do just fine.
Ingredients
- Asian Sprout Slaw
- Sunflower Sprouts - 1/4 cup
- Daikon Sprouts - 1/4 cup
- Fresh pea sprouts - 1/4 cup
- Fresh bean sprouts - 1/4 cup
- Cabbage - 2 tablespoons, shredded
- Mustard Seeds - pinch
- Peanut or olive oil - 1/4 cup
- Ginger - 2 tablespoons, pickled, thinly sliced
- Plain rice wine vinegar - 1 teaspoon
- Black Sesame Seeds - pinch
- White Sesame Seeds - pinch, toasted
- Asian Cocktail Sauce
- Sweet Chili Paste - 1/2 cup
- Curry Leaves - 5, crumbled
- Dried Marjoram - 1/2 teaspoon
- White Sesame Seeds - 1 teaspoon, toasted
- Kaffir Lime Leaves - 4, crumbled
- Lemongrass stalks - 1/4, cut into thin diagonal slices
- Fresh Cilantro Leaves - 10, chopped
- Ketchup - 1/2 cup
- Shrimp - 12, jumbo
- Crisp Sweet Potato Garnish
- Okinawan purple sweet potato - 1, peeled and shredded
- Canola oil - 1/4 cup
Instructions
To make the slaw: Put the sprouts and cabbage in a small bowl. Soak the mustard seeds in boiling water for 5 minutes. Mix the oil, ginger, drained mustard seeds, and rice vinegar together. Pour over the sprout mixture and stir. Refrigerate for 1 hour, stirring once or twice. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds.
To make the cocktail sauce: In a small bowl, mix all the ingredients together. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
To prepare the shrimp: Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Put the shrimp in the water and let the water return to a rolling boil. Remove from heat and drain in a colander. Plunge the shrimp into ice water to stop the cooking. When cool enough to handle, remove the shells and tails; take out the back strip.
To make the crisp sweet potato: Peel the sweet potato and slice into very thin long spirals on a spiral slicer, or cut it into matchsticks. Soak in ice water to keep them from turning color. In a wok of deep-fryer, heat the oil to 350 F, or until sizzling. Drain the sweet potato strips and pat them dry on paper towels. Drop into the hot oil and cook 3 to 5 minutes, until crisp. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the potato to paper towels to drain. Do not crowd the pan; if necessary, fry in batches, letting the oil return to temperature between each batch.
To serve: Place one fourth of the sprout slaw in the middle of a 3-inch diameter ring mold to one side on a serving plate. Press the slaw down to compact it. Top the slaw with 3 cooked shrimp. Carefully remove the ring mold. Repeat with the other plates. Top each with one fourth of the fried sweet potato. Spoon cocktail sauce to one side on each plate.
