Hong Kong soy sauce shrimp

Hong Kong soy sauce shrimps(香港生抽虾/豉油王蝦)or known as soy sauce  tiger prawns is a traditonal Hong Kong dish (the term prawn is used for large shrimps). The dish is a Chinese pan-fried shrimp recipe, deep friedn or pan-fried with soy sauce. The flavor comes from garlic, ginger and  scallion. Schimps for the dish can be unshelled the shrimps or shrimps with shells.

Perfectly pan-fried shrimps are slightly firm with a slight hint of a crunch. The meat is bouncy and juicy. This can only achieve if you use fresh shrimps and do not overcook them.

The flavor of pan-fried shrimps is also different between the shell and unshelled treatment. The unshelled shrimps are seared easily. On the contrary, shrimps with the shell can hold more sauce, and more succulent. Shrimps with shells look gorgeous on the dining table, and capture all the natural flavor.

There are many variations of the recipe for this pan-fried shrimps recipe. The constitution of the coating soy sauce is the determinant factor, which results in shrimps with entirely different flavor. Traditionally the dish uses  two types of soy sauce. Light or fresh soy sauce (生抽; pinyin: shēng chōu) a thin (low viscosity), opaque, lighter brown soy sauce for the flavor.

And dark and old soy sauce (老抽; pinyin: lǎo chōu), a darker and slightly thicker soy sauce made from light soy sauce. This soy sauce is made through prolonged aging and may contain added caramel color and/or molasses to give it its distinctive appearance.