steamed pacific spotted shrimp 白汋蝦

For many years after i move to Portland, Oregon the selections of seafood, especially fish, Asians enjoy were very limited. About 10 years ago that begun to change. Now we have very good selection especially live ones thanks to the many new Chinese grocery and seafood stores. The one I frequent is the largest. I hate to use the word large because you would only know because of word of mouth. The store is by no mean big, but the couple move the most of seafood I know in Portland. A lot of small restaurant owners come and buy from her. I have been their customer when they were first starting out.

Today I happened to be on that side of town. I however had just done my weekly grocery shopping 2 days ago. It is such a shame if I did not stop by there since it is on my way home anyway to see if they have anything that I haven't have for awhile. Stop I did.

I was hoping to see fresh scallops or razor clams but no luck. Everything else are the recent usuals. I was a bit disappointed. Then I see they have live Pacific Spotted Shrimps in a tank and at a great price. Funny a lot of their customers prefer the larger shrimps at double the price. I like the little spotted shrimps. I bought 1 lb. The fish monger tends to give me a bit more (you still pay by the weight) and I seldom complain.

 they are between 2 to 3 inches (stretched out)

A pound of shrimp is quite a bit for 1 person. These precious Pacific spotted shrimps are extremely perishible and I leant not to buy them unless I plan to eat them as soon as I arrive home. They literally would decompose in front of your eyes. Driving home, I had my mini's air conditioner on full tilt to prevent them from dying in the hot Oregon sun.



As soon as I arrived home I prepared my steamer and in 3 minutes they are cooked.

i should have my usual iPhone next to the plate for scale - that is the biggest seafood plate I have!

I prepare the condiment while the shrimps were being steamed. The condiment is Thai inspired - fish sauce with diced Thai peppers, and with a bit of sesame oil and soy oil, and with a dash of white pepper.

when I serve this dish to my Western guest, I always show them how to peel the shrimp so you get all the flavor, and also with the least waste. Here is how the head portion ought to look like if you do it properly. It should have the thin piece of antenna looking meat from the spike at the tip of the head.

the last stretch - i need to step on the gas 加油 to finish them (this is the second bowl of shells)

This is the common way Cantonese eats live shrimp and there is no better way short of eating them sushi raw. In Southwest China people typically just blanch them in a big wok of boiling water under high heat. That the name of this dish was derived in Cantonese - 白汋蝦 (meaning shrimps simply blanched). Instead of blanching I prefer to steam them in a big steamer. I opine it is better to steam them as you lose less umami to the water. However most households don't have a large enough steamer so blanching is an acceptable compromise.