Chinese Shrimp and Tomato Sauce Recipe
Chinese shrimp with tomato sauce is a more modern Chinese stir-fry dish. The more common name for this dish is actually “Ketchup Shrimp”!
Ketchup and shrimp though? I thought it was tomato sauce?
Although, it’s not traditional tomato “sauce”, ketchup’s main ingredients are still tomatoes!
The shrimp is cooked in ginger, garlic, and scallions and coated with a tangy and savoury sauce of stir-fried ketchup. Garlic and ketchup make an excellent but interesting pairing of flavours.
If ketchup doesn’t do it for you, substitute it with diced tomatoes and some tomato paste instead.
Tomatoes are best eaten in the spring and summertime. If you’re planting a garden, make sure to plant tomatoes!
Try our recipe out and let us know what you think. If you enjoy this, try our Tomato and Egg Stir-Fry Recipe.
Chinese Shrimp and Tomato Sauce
Servings: 4
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
- 12 oz large, shell-on headless shrimp (15 to 20 size)
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 7 slices fresh ginger (cut ⅛-inch thick)
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 scallions
- 1 medium onion
- ¼ cup ketchup or 2 tbsp tomato paste
- ⅛ tsp white pepper
- ½ tsp sugar
- 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
Instructions:
- Rinse your shrimp under cold running water, and thaw if frozen. Pat dry with a paper towel. If desired, you can peel the shells off for easy eating, but do leave the tails on.
- Peel the ginger and cut into 7 slices that are about ⅛ inches thick each. Peel the garlic as well and slice.
- Peel and chop the onion. Wash the scallion and cut at an angle into 2-inch pieces, with the white and green parts separated.
- Heat 1 tbsp of vegetable oil in your wok until it just starts to smoke. Fry the shrimp on both sides for 20 seconds on each side (15 seconds if you peeled the shells off), and set aside. The shrimp should be 80% cooked.
- Turn the heat down to low, and add another tablespoon of oil to your wok. Add the ginger, and let it infuse the oil for 15 seconds.
- Add the onion, garlic and white parts of the scallions. Turn the heat up to medium-high and stir-fry everything for 10 seconds.
- Add ¼ cup ketchup or 2 tbsp of tomato paste. Stir into the oil and fry for 15 seconds.
- Next, add the shrimp back in and the white pepper, sugar and Shaoxing wine.
- Stir-fry for 10 seconds, and then add the soy sauce.
- Continue to stir-fry until the sauce begins the reduce and coats the shrimp. Finally, add the rest of the scallions.
- Stir-fry for another 10 seconds and transfer to a dish.
- Best served with rice.
