Wednesday, March 26, 2014

How Vietnamese Chao Tom Is Prepared

Chao tom is a traditional seafood dish in Vietnam which comes mainly from central Vietnam region. It is made from shrimp surimi (paste prepared from the meat of shrimp) grilled on a sugar cane stick. It's often regarded as a dish for ceremonious public dinner prepared for weddings, holidays, or other special events.
Now, let's move on to know about this popular Vietnam seafood recipe.

Chao tom recipe
Total time: 35 minutes (approx.) including 25 minutes of preparation time and 10 minutes of cooking time.
Ingredients
The ingredients to prepare the meal for 4 servings are listed below.
. Shrimp: 10 ounces, shell removed.
. Fish sauce: 1-2 tablespoon.
. Salt: ½ teaspoon depending on the taste you require.
. Sugar: 1 teaspoon depending on the taste.
. Pepper: 1 pinch depending on the taste.
. Vegetable oil: 2 tablespoons.
. Sugar cane: 8 pieces, each piece 4-inch long.
. Red Chile: 1 (seeded and sliced).
. Sweet and sour sauce: 1 cup.
. Cilantro: ½ cup.
. Edible oil: As per your requirement (4 tablespoon oil would be okay).
Directions
. First, you need to marinate the shrimp in the fish sauce for 15 to 20 minutes. Take out of the bowl, wash the shrimp and pound it into paste. Mix salt, sugar and pepper into the paste (or, you can grind it in a food processor).
. Hold some amount of paste in one hand and center one sugar cane stick atop the paste. Keep squeezing the paste with edible oil until it is tightly adhered to the sugar cane stick.
. Grill over charcoal heat (medium heat) for 10 minutes until the paste turns into crisp and brownish in color.
. Now, the dish is prepared and it's about serving the dish by garnishing with cilantro, chili and sweet and sour sauce in a plate.
Fresh Shrimp would taste better. So ask for some fresh shrimp if you could talk about this with a reputable and reliable seafood supplier. Else, you can buy frozen shrimp which are easily available on the fish market and defreeze them under a flow of clean water at room temperature.
Alternative to sugar cane sticks
If you do not have access to sugar cane at all, you cannot prepare this recipe with sugar cane sticks. The best alternative to sugar cane is fresh lemongrass stalk. Take some lemongrass stalks and cut them into pieces of suitable size.