Crispy chips: recipe, how to cook

In the Asian cookbook there are many original and unusual dishes. By the way, you certainly are in full confidence that chips are an invention of the "decaying" West, in particular the United States. However, for example, the same shrimp chips are an Asian privilege. And they started eating them here long before American fast food. Seemingly unsightly, reminiscent of plastic tokens in unprepared form semi-finished products look boring. But when you fry them in oil or microwave - look very appetizing and pleasantly crunching on your teeth. And the taste and aroma - just lick your fingers! Well, shall we try and cook?

Shrimp chips: a bit of history

This dish is common in most countries in the Pacific. For example, chips, or krupuk, made from flour of various origins, as well as starch, from crushed dried pre-seafood and fish, in Malaysia are a national dish. These crispy thin mugs have many cooking options. And under different names are present in other regions of Asia, as well as in some areas of China. Popular shrimp chips are used in Indonesia and the Philippines. And already in the last century, this product has expanded its distribution in countries that have historical links with these areas: in the Netherlands, in the past - the Indonesian metropolis.

Shrimp chips: how to cook?

Such kind of Asian chips can be made from various ingredients: starch and rice or other flour, dried seafood, powdered, fish and vegetables with dried fruits. These sources can be mixed in different proportions. Among the most common species are the shrimp chips. This dish is prepared both from pure seafood, and with the addition of starch.

Simple technology for Malaysians

The traditional recipe for shrimp chips is quite simple. Shrimps used for production are usually first dried (cleaned and raw) on special sheets in the air, then they are rubbed into a powdery mass, which in pure form or mixed with flour (starch) plus salt is kneaded on water. From the resulting steep dough prepare a small size and thin lozhechechki (usually a diameter of up to ten centimeters and a thickness of a millimeter in three), which after decomposed and also dried in natural conditions.

Then the previously prepared semi-finished products are fried on a good fire in a huge amount of lean oil, usually on a wok, quickly - for just a couple of minutes. Characteristic for the dish can be recognized that from the frying plate, being imbued with oil, increases in size: the finished chip is usually much more raw by volume (3-5 times). Depending on the ingredients, the final product has a color range from white to light brown. But if natural dyes are also used, different shades can appear. Ready-made chips can be stored in a tightly closed container for at least 2 weeks, and dry billets and a much longer time.

How to use

The dish can be eaten both as a snack before the main meal, and as an independent meal. In many cases, by the way, chips with shrimps or other seafood perform about the same role that the European table is played by bread products. In addition, the bread can be dipped in various kinds of sauces. And large and convex plates of chips it is convenient to scoop liquid or friable dishes, using them as spoons. Chips are traditionally served as a supplement to some Indonesian dishes (for example, nasi-goreng). Among other things, some dishes, such as hot soup, as well as ketoprak, which is a kind of salad, it is customary to sprinkle with crushed chips.

At home

In the conditions of modern cuisine, in principle, any home cook - even a beginner - is able to lean on such: sculpting the groats and offering them to relatives or guests. How to cook shrimp chips? The following ingredients will be needed: shrimp or crab meat, cassava starch (this is a root crop, but it is possible to do with potato if it is not, they are very similar), salt to the eye, pepper to taste, lean oil for frying.

Preparation

1. The meat of the peeled shrimp is thawed, crushed with a blender, we add starch (the proportion is approximately one to one, but it can be varied), salt with pepper - on the tip of the knife.
2. Mix the dough with purified water to make it more abruptly. We roll the mass and give it the shape of a loaf. We put the minutes to forty in the steamer.
3. We pull out, we cool it. After putting in the freezer for another 30-40 minutes.
4. In this case, the dough should turn out to be a cheese consistency.
5. Cut the "bar" with thin plates (about three millimeters thick) and spread out to dry in the sun.
6. We wait until it is dry (usually this process takes up to a week).
7. After drying, the half-finished product can be fried in boiling lean oil, and can be stored in plastic bags in the refrigerator and, as necessary, to make a ready-made dish that turns out to be crispy and fragrant.

By the way, you can cook shrimp chips in a microwave oven. And at the same time do without oil (which is especially valuable for those who are used to watching their figure, but wants to pamper themselves with oriental delights). For cooking, you just need to get out the refrigerator and put the microwave on an average power, putting chips on the dish. They are not prepared for long, and it is possible to learn about what it is time to pull out, in appearance: the plates considerably increase in size. Pleasant to you all!