Kkanpung Saeu: Sweet-and-Spicy Shrimp
Written by Joe Wabe.
October to November is the shrimp season in Korea, so it’s the perfect time to find good shrimp at a good price everywhere. There’s even a big shrimp festival that’s been held since 1907 on the west coast at Namdang-hang Port, which draws many visitors every year from early September to mid-October. To celebrate this season, I’ve put together this delicious recipe for sweet-and-spicy shrimp, or kkanpung saeu (깐풍새우). Kkanpung is the Koreanized pronunciation of the Chinese for “stir-fry,” and saeu is “shrimp” in Korean.
Although it’s not traditional Korean cuisine, being instead more of a Koreanized Chinese cuisine, it’s quite popular among food-lovers. Its taste resembles the taste of tangsuyuk (탕수육) the popular sweet-and-sour fried pork served in most Chinese restaurants. Korean-Chinese cuisine is known to have developed near the port city of Incheon during the 19th century, where a large population of ethnic Chinese lived.
This recipe is good to serve as a side dish, and for those who don’t like spicy food, it can be adapted as a non-spicy dish. Now that the weather has gotten much cooler, this exotic and colorful dish is a good way to prepare for Korea’s beautiful autumn foliage.
Ingredients (Serves 4)
1/2 kilo of shrimp (about 20)
4 small, dried, red hot peppers
5 sliced garlic cloves
1/2 red bell pepper
1 chopped green chili pepper
1 small, thinly sliced ginger root
1 chopped green onion
1/2 chopped onion
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
2 tablespoons of oyster sauce
3 tablespoons of brown sugar
2 tablespoons of vinegar
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
2 tablespoons of rice wine
2 tablespoons of anchovy sauce
1/2 tablespoon of sesame oil
8 tablespoons of potato or corn starch
1 egg
salt and pepper
frying oil
Preparation
Clean and devein the shrimp, then let it sit and dry. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. In a bowl, add the starch and eggs and mix them well. Next, add the shrimp to the batter and coat it evenly. In a deep fryer or large pot, deep-fry the shrimp until golden. Deep-fry in smaller batches to allow more space, and remove and drain when necessary. You can fry the shrimp a second time if you want it extra crispy.
In a small bowl, prepare the sauce by adding the soy sauce, oyster sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, lemon, rice wine, anchovy sauce, and sesame oil. Mix it well and let it sit. In a large frying pan with a little bit of oil, start by sautéing the red and green pepper first, then add the rest of the vegetables. Once they are sautéed to a golden color, add the already-made sauce and let it cook for a couple of minutes until it thickens a little. Next, add the shrimp and stir until the sauce is almost absorbed. Finally, turn off the heat and serve.
The Author
Joe Wabe is an established photographer and Gwangju local business entrepreneur. He has been contributing to the GIC and the Gwangju News for more than eight years.