# Ebi kara age (Dried fried shrimp)



## Instigator (Jul 6, 2004)

Here's another run at traditional Japanese seafood. Kara age is a dry frying technique different from tempura and is used on lots of seafood, shrimp especially. Took the wife out for a near rig run yesterday and loaded up on live shrimp for the trip. She loves to go but she has had enough offshore fun way before I have so we do these short trips from time to time. Those close in rigs have been hammered with just about every bait imaginable but live shrimp will still convince finicky fish to bite, especially on light bay tackle. You bust off a bunch of UFO's but you usually put enough fish in the box to take away that pain. This trip yielded mangrove snapper, Spanish mackerel and miscellaneous other stuff including her 1st shark (see the BW board for that story). But even with all we caught, we still had shrimp left from the quart when the boat headed northwest. Those tiny browns are too good to waste so the single triggerfish we caught and the leftover shrimp turned into a quicky dinner.

Smaller shrimp work best for this because you're going to eat them whole. That's right, shell, head, toenails and everything, and small shrimp crisp up fast without overcooking the meat. All you do is dredge them in plain old cornstarch and toss them into 350 F oil of your choice until they float and get just a bit of color. Corn starch doesn't brown worth a darn so if you wait for them to be golden brown and delicious (GBD) you'll have overcooked them. Kara age fish is the same deal. Cut the fillets into French fry sized strips, coat in corn starch and fry. Typically Asian, this recipe gets its flavor from the seafood plus whatever dipping sauce you like. I made the same spicy ponzu that I've used on other Japanese recipes posted here because it is easy and more importantly, the wife loves the stuff. Just mix equal parts lemon juice, mirin, seasoned rice wine vinegar, sake (junmai ginjo style sake works good and tastes even better chilled with dinner) and soy sauce. Mince garlic, chop scallion tops and slice some Serrano or jalapeño chilies and float them on the sauce.

This is a recipe that you'll have to try to believe just how good it is. Fried bait is what some of my more Bubba-esque fishing buddies call it, but they munch down on every last one of those crispy critters. I've even had them go buy extra live shrimp just so we could use them for snacking while waiting for the grill to get ready.

Yeah, you can tell from the photo that we had too many to eat fried right then so some got boiled. I couldn't resist throwing a couple of those on the plate too. They get headed and peeled before eating  The green stuff in the middle is pan fried okra with a little Japanese 5 spice (Sichimi togarashi), think Tony's without the salt, and drizzled with a bit of soy sauce.


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## Pecos (Feb 20, 2006)

Instigator,
Wow...I tried your recipe right down to the dipping sauce and everyone raved about it. Had to talk a couple of folks into that first bite but the others were old sushi hands and dove right in.

I hope that you are an expert on asian cooking and can answer a question for me. I lived on the island of Kawai in 1976 and became addicted to, for lack of a better term, "tuna jerky". It was semi dried and lightly smoked with a sweetness to it. The color was a deep rich red/purple. I have never been able to duplicate the recipe. Any ideas?

PECOS


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## kim e cooper (Feb 18, 2006)

Looks great will try thanks.


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## Freshwaterman (May 21, 2004)

> mirin


What's this?



> Japanese 5 spice (Sichimi togarashi)


Where can you get this?

Thanks for the recipe. I want to try it. - Mike


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## Instigator (Jul 6, 2004)

Mike, mirin is a sweetened sake used for cooking. Most of the time you'll see it as Kikkoman's aji-mirin, but if you're lucky you might find it as an imported hon-mirin. It has a similar alcohol content to sake, 12 to 18% but you generally use so little of it that doesn't come into play. Interestingly it is just on the grocery shelf and not regulated like other alcoholic beverages. You can get it at any Asian market, and the HEB I use has started carrying it in small bottles in their import section. Think of sichimi togarashi as Japanese Tony's without the salt. It's a blend of different chili with some black sesame seeds thrown in for color. It is usually sold in small glass cylinders and you'll probably have to hit an Asian market to find it. 

If you are not going to a Japanese market, and they're few and far between, if you ask for it the usually non-Japanese staff won't know what you're talking about even though they have it on their shelf. These things are pretty much only used in Japanese preps. Just seach the spice area for the sichimi and mirin is usually stuck in with their rice wine vinegars. If you're in the Houston area, Nippon Daido is a strictly Japanese grocery at Westheimer and Wilcrest. They'll have everything you need and then some.


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