Steamed Shrimp Rice Cakes

The traditional Steamed Shrimp Rice Cakes are made with Rice Flour, shrimp, wrapped in phrynium leaves and served with fish sauce. Most fresh shrimp must be soaked for several hours until soft and then grounded finely in a blender. After added salt, sugar and fish sauce is stir-fried until dry and having a sweet and salty taste.
The rice batter, made of rice flour, should be smooth and soft. Next, fried shrimp is spread on the top of the rice batter, and the whole is wrapped into a rectangular shape and steamed for about 15 minutes.It is the time to take off the cover and sniff the elegant scent of phrynium leaves. The shrimp is crispy, a bit greasy, sweet and salty in a nice way that most people are inclined to savor it gradually, and it is mixed so well with the rice batter that it tastes great on its own and even better with the sweet and spicy fish sauce.
Now, I will give you the way to make Steamed Shrimp Rice Cakes.

Ingredients

• DIPPING SAUCE:3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 cup prawn broth
• 3 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 2chiles, chopped
• 3 1/2ounces/100 g rice flour
• 1tablespoon/15 g tapioca flour
• Salt
• 1 cup lukewarm water
• 4 teaspoons vegetable oil, for batter
• 14ounces/400 g small tiger prawn
• 3cloves garlic, finely diced (1 tablespoon)
• 1 tablespoon finely diced red shallots
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 cup pork crackling, crushed
• Special equipment: 20 small ramekins

Directions
For the dipping sauce: Add sugar, prawn broth, fish sauce, and vinegar to a bowl. Mix until the sugar is dissolved. Now add the chopped chile. Set aside.

In a large bowl combine rice flour, tapioca flour, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Make a well

in the center and pour in 1/2 the warm water.

 
Using your hands stir the ingredients together kneading the dough until it is well combined. Now add the rest of the water, use a wooden spoon to stir it all together until you achieve a fine liquid batter.

Add 2 teaspoons vegetable oil and allow the batter to rest for 15 minutes.

 

Bring a pot of water to the boil, add prawns and cook for 5 minutes. Remove the prawns, peel and reserve the prawn broth.

 
Bring a steamer pot to rapid boil, place as many ramekins to the steamer tray as you can. Now fill each ramekin with the batter 2/3 full. Cover and steam for 5 minutes. Repeat this process until batter is finished.

 

Pound the cooked prawns in a mortar and pestle until crushed.

 

Put a fry pan on low heat, add the crushed prawns, garlic, and shallots, stir fry for 5 minutes or until prawns are completely dry and floss-like texture.

 

Turn off heat, add pepper and continue to stir fry for a further 3 minutes. Add some oil to each rice cake and top with prawns, crushed pork crackling, and fish sauce