Check out this amazing Cantonese-style Shrimp and eggs recipe with a soft, velvety texture that will leave you craving more. Imagine plump, crunchy pink shrimp gently enveloped in flavorful, velvety eggs. This simple yet incredibly delicious dish is sure to be a family favorite.

Cantonese shrimp with eggs (滑蛋虾仁) is treasured for its incredible flavor and simple cooking process. However, many home cooks struggle to recreate the perfect restaurant-style dish, often ending up with eggs that are too runny or firm and shrimp that don’t have that satisfying crunch.

This article will help you to produce the perfect stir-fried Shrimp and eggs recipe,

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How to prepare the Cantonese-style shrimp and eggs stir-fry

1. Peeled, washed, and cooked the shrimp.

1. Remove the shell, and devein the shrimp.
2. Place the peeled shrimp in a bowl. Add 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 1 teaspoon of salt, and sufficient water to cover the shrimp.
3. Keep it in the refrigerator for thirty minutes.
4. Rinse under running water to remove the baking soda and salt.

Note:

• Treating the shrimp with baking soda will make them crunchy, but at the same time, will reduce the meaty mouthfeel that resembles crab meat. Therefore, it depends on whether you like the texture or you can skip this step. This method also makes the famous dim sum Shrimp Dumpling (Har Gow).
• If you want to learn more about the impact of baking soda and salt on the shrimp, please refer to a small test I conducted. It’s located in the final section of this article.
• Tips: After dealing with shrimp, wash your hands with a teaspoon of baking soda, effectively removing the shrimpy smell from your hands.

2. Pan-fry the shrimp without the eggs

The eggs and shrimp should be cooked separately because they require different cooking durations. 

1. To cook the shrimp, turn the stove to medium to high heat. Then, add about 1 tbsp of oil and swirl it around to coat the wok.
2. Next, add the shrimp and pan-fry for about half a minute until it is about 80% cooked and turns almost entirely pink.
3. Then, flip the shrimp to stir-fry the other side for another 15 seconds.
4. Turn off the heat, remove the cooked shrimp from the wok, and set it aside.

3. Cook the egg to the right consistency

Preparing the shrimp with egg scramble is easy, but you need some skill to get the silky smooth, nearly set egg with a bright golden color. The perfect result should be soft eggs that are softer than scrambled eggs. This appearance matches the Chinese name of the dish 滑蛋虾仁, which means ‘smooth egg with shrimps.’. The smoothness of the egg scramble reflects the standard of this dish. 

How to make the egg scramble, the Cantonese way

• First, crack the eggs into a large bowl. 
• Then, add the salt, sugar, white pepper, and sesame oil. You can include light soy sauce and oyster sauce, but I prefer not to, as it keeps the color light and yellowish.
• Beat the egg until it becomes frothy.
• Mix the cornstarch and water in a separate bowl to form a slurry. Combine the cornflour slurry with the beaten eggs.
• Once the wok is smoking hot, reduce the heat to a minimum. Then, pour the egg mixture into the wok. The egg will start to sizzle on the hot wok. Allow it to sit for about 10 seconds without stirring.
• After 10 seconds, use a spatula to lift the cooked egg layer, fold it over, and allow the uncooked egg to flow underneath. Continue stacking the cooked egg layers on top of each other to ensure the texture of the egg is smooth and velvety.

• Add the pan-fried shrimp and chopped green onions when the eggs are almost cooked. 
• Stir to combine, then immediately remove from heat to prevent overcooking. The remaining heat will finish cooking the egg. If you wait until all the egg is solidified, it will lose its smooth texture.

Note: You can use Chinese chives as an alternative to green onions (scallions).

Tips to make the best shrimp and eggs scramble

1. Use cornstarch to create the smooth texture of the eggs

For a smoother texture, you can mix water with the eggs. To combine the water and eggs properly, you can use cornstarch to bind them together. Make a cornstarch slurry by mixing one part with two parts of water in a separate bowl. Then add this mixture to the eggs and beat until smooth. Avoid adding the cornstarch directly to the eggs, as it may form lumps.

2. Use cold eggs

To make the eggs light, smooth, and fluffy, it’s best to beat them while they are cold. Using eggs taken from the refrigerator and beating them until they trap lots of air will help make them smooth and velvety when cooked.

How to prepare the shrimp to make them crunchy – a simple experiment

I’ve been exploring various Chinese chefs’ techniques to make shrimp crunchy and bouncy. One method is to add salt, baking soda, or both to the shrimp and wash them away after ten minutes. Another school of thought believes that rinsing the shrimp under running water for an extended period can achieve the desired texture. To address my doubts about the most effective method, I have conducted a small test to determine the best approach. Here are the results of my findings. I treated the shrimps using the following methods and then poached them in water for one minute.

The following are the results of the tests. 

1. Rinse the shrimps under running water for 30 minutes until it becomes translucent. The shrimp shrink after poaching and are not crunchy. I assume the pH of the tap water is less than seven. The shrimp should turn crunchy if it is slightly alkaline.
2. Marinate the shrimp with baking soda, tapioca starch, and egg white for 30 minutes. The shrimp look plump and are very crunchy.
3. Marinate with plenty of salt for 30 minutes, then rinse the shrimp until the water is clear. The shrimp are salty but not as crunchy as number two.
4. Soak in water with baking soda and some salt for 30 minutes. Plum and crunchy, just like number two.

Conclusion: Soak the shrimps with baking soda and salt solution for thirty minutes to yield the crunchy shrimps among the four methods. I have read from some articles that baking soda with pH9 can alter the texture of the shrimp to make it crunchy.

Other related recipes to serve along with the shrimp and eggs

• Garlic Fried Rice: A flavorful and easy-to-make fried rice recipe.
• Bok Choy Stir-Fry: Simple stir-fried vegetables complementing the egg and shrimp scramble well.
• Hainanese Pork Chop: A traditional pork chop recipe that is a staple of Malaysian Chinese restaurants.

Shrimp and eggs recipe (Cantonese style)- 滑蛋虾仁