Five minutes? Yep. It’s a crime to overcook shrimps, didn’t you know? As soon as they change color, give them another half a minute in the pan and they’re done.
And the prep time? Less than five minutes. You do need to pat the shrimps dry and crush some garlic. Three minutes should be a generous amount of time. Note, however, that if you have to shell and devein the shrimps, the prep time will be considerably longer.
What is herb butter? It’s softened butter mixed with herbs and, sometimes, with spices too. You may buy it from specialty food shops but it is quite pricey. If you have butter and dried herbs on hand, herb butter is so easy to make.
How to make herb and spice butter
Cheese comes in oh, so many flavors, especially spreadable cream cheese. Why not butter?
And the salted egg yolk sauce? Does that need prepping at all? Not in my case because I have a jar of salted egg yolk paste in the fridge. Discovered it online and bought it out of curiosity.
It’s so good and we’ve been using it in so many ways. I’m planning on buying another jar or two very soon. You should try stirring it in rice. It’s one ingredient that will transform plain rice.
So, once you’ve pressed your shrimps between stacks of paper towels, crushed your garlic, and measured the herb butter and salted egg yolk paste, how do you cook the dish?
Melt the butter over low heat, spread the garlic and wait until you can smell the garlicky fragrance. Then, drop in your salted egg yolk paste and stir.
Wait until the salted egg yolk paste liquefies into a creamy sauce before spreading the shrimps in the pan. For even cooking, try to spread the shrimps in a single layer.
Turn up the heat to medium-high, stir the shrimps then sprinkle in lemon pepper seasoning. Stir again and wait for the sauce to turn bubbly. By that time, the shrimps should be done.
Ingredients
- 24 medium shrimps shelled and deveined
- 3 heaping teaspoon herb butter
- 3 cloves garlic peeled and crushed
- 2 heaping tablespoons salted egg yolk paste (available in Asian groceries)
- lemon pepper seasoning to taste
- finely sliced scallions to garnish
Instructions
- Line a plate with paper towels, spread the shrimps in a single layer, cover with another stack of paper towels then press down lightly to remove excess moisture.
- Melt two heaping teaspoons of herb butter over low heat, spread the crushed garlic and cook over low heat for about a minute.
- Add the salted egg yolk paste and stir. Cook until the paste liquefies into the consistency of a creamy sauce.
- Spread the shrimps in the sauce, leave for a minute, turn up the heat to medium-high and stir.
- Sprinkle the half a teaspoon of lemon pepper seasoning, add the remaining herb butter, stir and cook until the sauce is bubbly and the shrimps are done.
- Taste. Add more lemon pepper seasoning, if needed.
- Serve you shrimps in salted egg sauce topped with sliced scallions.
