I first had Honey Walnut Shrimp when I was 12 years old. I tagged along with my dad to work one evening. He worked at a dim sum restaurant that also hosted wedding banquets. I was so glad I went to work with him that day.
I had 10 courses of some of the best food I've ever had. After that first trip of being my dad’s co-pilot, I made sure to tag along as often as I could.
The dishes that stood out to me was a cold cuts platter that had jellyfish, fried lobster, and Honey Walnut Shrimp. The shrimp at first was a little interesting. I wasn't used to tasting mayonnaise outside of a sandwich. However, the combination with shrimp and walnuts worked so well together.
My dad told me that it was a newer dish and that not many restaurants had it at the time - this was the early 1990s. They were proud to feature it on the menu and I was glad they did.
Honey Walnut Shrimp is now a lot more common, almost every Chinese seafood restaurant offers it. You can even order Honey Walnut Shrimp at Panda Express. Not being biased at all but I have to admit, this recipe is much better.
What Size Shrimp is Best for Honey Walnut Shrimp?
Shrimp is packaged based on size. You'll see numbers similar to 16/20, 21/24, 31/40, etc. The numbers indicate roughly how many shrimp are in a pound.
For instance, 16/20 means there are around 16-20 shrimp per pound. The smaller the number, the larger the shrimp.
For this recipe, it's better to use shrimp on the larger size. I used 21/24 in this recipe. I've used the larger 16/20 and that works as well.
However, I don't recommend going too much bigger in size. Shrimp tend to be tougher when you reach a certain size.
Plus, it's nice to be able to eat the whole shrimp in one bite. On the other hand, don’t go too much smaller either since it throws off the batter to shrimp ratio.
Ingredients
- 1 lb shrimp, shelled, deveined and patted dry
- oil for deep frying, high smoke point oil such as peanut, canola, or avocado
Batter
- ¼ cup flour
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- ¼ cup water
Sauce
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoon sweetened condensed milk
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Honey Walnuts
- ½ cup walnuts
- 2 tablespoon honey
- 2 tablespoon water
- 1 pinch of salt
Instructions
Glaze the Walnuts
- In a mixing bowl, stir together the honey, water and salt.
- Pour in the walnuts and mix well to coat in the glaze.
- Lay the walnuts in a single layer on a foil lined baking sheet and bake in an oven or toaster oven at 350°F for about 10 minutes. The walnuts should be slightly golden. Once cooled, the glaze should've created a crunchy coating.
Prepare the Sauce
- In a large mixing bowl, combine all the SAUCE ingredients. Mix well and set aside. We'll be adding fried shrimp to this later.
Fry the Shrimp
- Heat oil in a pot or Dutch oven to 350°F.
- Whisk all the BATTER ingredients in a mixing bowl until well incorporated. Don't overmix. Some lumps are okay.
- Add all the shrimp to the batter and stir until each shrimp is well coated.
- Remove the shrimp one by one from the batter. Allow excess batter to drip off and carefully place into the hot oil. Be sure they don't stick to each other. Fry until the shrimp is cooked through, roughly 3-4 minutes. Do this in batches so you don't overcrowd the pot.
- When the shrimp are cooked, remove them from the oil and place them on a wire rack to allow excess oil to drip out. Continue frying the rest of the shrimp.
Bring it Together
- Add the fried shrimp to the mixing bowl with the previously prepared sauce and toss well to coat the shrimp.
- Transfer the shrimp to a serving platter and surround with honey walnuts. Serve immediately.
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