Grandma's Garlic Shrimp Recipe
I've been on a mission to immortalize my grandma's dishes by putting them on my YouTube channel and blog. I’ve shared several others, and this garlic shrimp recipe is probably the easiest one. If you asked my grandma for the recipe she’d say, "There's no recipe, you just stir fry some shrimp" as grandmas do. But we know there's more to it than that because it always tastes a particular way! It’s got the sweet-salty-umami trifecta, with chunks of soft garlic. Seriously, so good.
So I set out to recreate it, but with my cheffy twists of course! It’s a go-to dish for when we had shrimp, but not much else, because all of the ingredients are Thai pantry staples. So this is a taste of simple, quick and easy Thai home cooking!
Ingredients
Here are ingredients you'll need. Very simple, basic stuff. See the recipe card for the amounts, scaling, unit conversions, and nutritional info!
Large shrimp, peeled and deveined. I recommend shrimp that are at least size 21/25 so it feels substantial. I am using size 16/20. (The shrimp size numbers refer to the number of shrimp per pound, so shrimp size 21/25 means there are 21-25 shrimp per pound. So the smaller the number the larger the shrimp.)
White peppercorns, black pepper will also work.
Cilantro stems, chopped. Traditionally we use cilantro roots, but the stems make a great substitute.
Garlic, since garlic is the main herb, try to use fresh garlic that has not sprouted. If you see green sprouts in the garlic, remove them as they can be bitter.
Oyster sauce, see my post on how to choose a good oyster sauce
Fish sauce, see my post on how to choose a good fish sauce
Sugar
Shrimp paste in oil. This is shrimp tomalley (orange stuff in their heads) that has been cooked with some oil and seasonings and it really is important in this dish. See below for what it is and how to substitute.
Cilantro or green onion for garnish (optional, grandma never garnished, lol!)
Jasmine rice for serving
Jazz it up: Topping the dish with fried garlic takes it to the next level. You can buy fried garlic at Asian grocery stores; or if you have time, make it yourself for best flavour, and you'll end up with garlic oil that is wonderful on just about everything. See my garlic pepper chicken recipe for how to make it. Read More…
