Honey Cashew Shrimp

This is supposed to be Honey Walnut Shrimp, but the walnuts I had in the pantry turned out to be expired already.  So I substituted the walnuts with cashews, hence the renamed dish.  ;)  I’ve been meaning to look for the recipe for Honey Walnut Shrimp since April but somehow forgot all about it.  I guess it was really a half-hearted search anyway, because that time, I was already being mindful of what I eat.  I knew that Walnut Shrimp involved some deep-frying and some sweet ingredients.

About two weeks ago, I received my weekly dose of recipes from one of the recipe sites I am subscribed to.  I often end up ignoring those newsletters and do not even bother opening them.  But when I did bother to read the newsletter that one time, I found that one of the featured recipes is Honey Walnut Shrimp.  I thought maybe it was about time I gave cooking that dish a try.

I’m glad I tried the recipe!  It was a success!  We all loved the dish and thought it was better than the ones served at Chinese buffet places.  Well, come to think of it, anyone’s bound to make a better version of the dishes served at Chinese buffet places here.

I found it interesting that the glutinous rice flour/Mochiko is used for the shrimp batter.  Other minor changes I made to the recipe, aside from substituting cashews for walnuts, are substituting light mayonnaise for regular mayo and using raw wild honey instead of regular honey.

Here’s the recipe:

INGREDIENTS

1 cup water

2/3 cup white sugar

1/2 cup cashews

4 egg whites

2/3 cup glutinous rice flour

1/4 cup light mayonnaise

1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined

2 tablespoons raw wild honey

1 tablespoon canned sweetened condensed milk

1 cup vegetable oil for frying

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a small sauce pan, stir together the water and sugar  and bring to a boil. Add the cashews and boil for 2 minutes.  Drain and place the cashews on a cookie sheet to dry.

2. In a medium bowl, whip egg whites  until foamy. Stir in the glutinous rice flour until it has a pasty consistency. Over medium-high heat, heat the oil in a wok or a heavy deep skillet. Dip the shrimps one by one into the glutinous rice flour batter, and then fry in the hot oil until golden brown (about 5 minutes). With a slotted spoon, remove the shrimps from the wok/skillet and drain on paper towels.

3. Stir together the light mayonnaise, raw wild honey and sweetened condensed milk in a medium bowl. Add the shrimps and toss, making sure all shrimps are coated with the sauce. Sprinkle the candied cashews on top and serve with steamed rice.

There’s a voice in my head that tells me I should really stay away from dishes like this if I want to stay away from sites like ridbellyfat.net.  It’s just an occasional indulgence anyway.  And it’s just awfully hard to say say no to sinfully good food. :) *sigh*

Happy Hump Day, y’all!

Mabuhay!