One of the great benefits of my relationship with Chris has been my expanded culinary experience.  Foods that I would never even think to taste before have quickly become some of my favorites.  The first time he took me to a Vietnamese restaurant, I fell in love with the shrimp toast.  It was such a delightful and tasty treat, unlike anything I had tasted before.  I couldn’t even imagine how you would make such a wonderful concoction.

A few months ago, we stopped for takeout at the same restaurant.  I was disappointed to find that they no longer have shrimp toast on the menu.

Last week, Chris found the recipe for shrimp toast in one of his cookbooks, The Art of Wok Cooking.  It did not look like the complicated recipe that I expected, so I gave it a shot.

Ingredients Shrimp Toast

Shrimp Toast

1 6-ounce can shrimp, drained and minced

3 ounces ground lean pork

1 1/2 teaspoons dry sherry

1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup finely chopped green onions

3/4 teaspoon cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

2 eggs

7 to 8 slices thin white bread

1/3 cup fine dry bread crumbs

1 cup peanut oil

Mix ingredients Shrimp Toast

This recipe was very easy to put together.  Once I had all of my ingredients ready, I mixed the shrimp, pork (I used sausage), sherry, soy sauce, salt, pepper, onions, cornstarch, sesame oil, and one of the eggs together.  I spread the shrimp mixture over one side of each piece of bread.

Spread shrimp mix Shrimp Toast

I beat the other egg in a bowl and brushed it over the bread and filling.  I sprinkled the bread crumbs over the top of the filling and then cut the bread diagonally into quarters.

Toast triangles Shrimp Toast

I heated the oil in a pan to 375 degrees.  The recipe calls for a wok, but I do not have one of those, so made do with a non-stick skillet.  After some trial and error in adjusting the oil temperature, I put the bread in the oil, filling side down.  I worked in batches to not overcrowd the pan, frying the toast until it was golden brown.  I flipped the toast over and browned the other side.

Frying toast Shrimp Toast

After the toast was nicely browned, I drained the pieces on a paper towel and served them nice and hot.  They were delicious.  The only thing missing was the duck sauce that I love on shrimp toast.  Chris looked up a recipe online, and we had the ingredients, so I quickly put together the sauce to enjoy with our toast.

Duck Sauce

Duck Sauce

3 tablespoons apricot jam

1 1/2 tablespoons red wine or white vinegar

I simply mixed the jam and red wine vinegar together in a small bowl until they were well blended.

The sauce was fantastic and really worked well with the shrimp toast.  I still can’t believe how easy it was to make this wonderful delicacy.  I am really relishing my newfound joy in cooking.

Shrimp Toast with Duck Sauce