Crispy Fried Water Spinach Salad with Shrimp

The level of complication is much different between these two jobs, since the position of a chef requires management ability, comprehensive overseeing and creativity. It includes well-thought division of tasks, ensuring short waiting times for guests, serving dishes when sizzling hot and nicely garnished, and so on.

Chef Le Van Quyet of Vingroup excels in administering a three-person kitchen in the Contest. He always has time to perform value-added tasks such as carving flowers from vegetables, taking meticulous care of the dish garnishment, or supporting other teams when needed. As said by jury David Thai, you can tell a good chef by just watching how she or he moves around (in the kitchen). With such quality, Mr. Quyet introduces the salad of crispy fried water spinach with shrimp with a message: “It’s very quick to make and can be served right after the guests come in, but one must prepare well in advance.”

Crispy fried water spinach salad with shrimp.

INGREDIENTS

Ingredients for the salad

- 100g water spinach stalk (leaves and aged hard parts removed)

- 100g fresh white-leg shrimp

- 100g green, matured mango

- 50g onion

- 1 chicken egg

- 100g tempura flour

- 300ml cooking oil

- 70ml plain water

Ingredients for the sauce

- 15ml passion fruit extract

- 100g mayonnaise

- 8g sugar

- 0.5g salt

COOKING PROCESS

1. Prepare: Rinse then drain the water spinach, cut into chunks 5cm long. Cut the onion into rings 5mm thick. Rinse the shrimp. Peel the mango. Break the egg into a bowl and whisk until dissolved.

2. Mix the salad: Boil the shrimp till cooked, peel and divine (slice big size ones into halves). Peel the mango, remove the pit, and cut it into short shoestrings 3mm thick. Put the shrimp and mango on the cool tray in the fridge.

Pour 100g tempura flour into a bowl, add the egg and 70ml of water, stir till dissolved and the mixture turns into a soft, thick batter.

Heat 300ml of cooking oil in a pan on medium heat. Use the chopsticks to dip each single sprig of water spinach together with an onion ring into the tempura batter, then immediately drop them into the oil pan, flip quickly for thorough brownness, then take out and let dry off the grease.

3. Make the sauce: dissolve 8g of sugar in 15ml of passion fruit extract, add 100g of mayonnaise and 0.5g of salt; stir well, taste to favor, store cold, and drizzle the salad with this sauce just before serving.

PRESENTATION

Arrange the mango on a serving dish, line the shrimp around. Next, drizzle some sauce over. Finally lay the crispy water spinach and fried onion on top. Serve with the sauce aside.

QUALITY CHECK

- The fried water spinach is crispy, not rubbery, maintaining the color of green and reddish brown. The onion is brown, fragrant, not burned. The flour coating is not too thick. The shrimp are properly cooked with a natural fresh sweetness.

- The green mango is crunchy; the sauce is aromatic, not too thin nor too thick, and has a mild sweet-sour flavor.

TIPS

- Choose the matured mango which is less sour and is crunchy but not tender.

- Immediately put the shrimp into iced water after boiling so that the flesh will firm up, and thus be more flavorful.

- Fry the water spinach on medium heat; quickly fry each one at a time so that the batter coating could be evenly browned, and the spinach maintains its green color.

NUTRITIONAL COMPONENTS OF THE INGREDIENTS

This dish has the water spinach and white leg shrimps as the main ingredients, the sub ones is green mango.

EFFECTS OF THE DISH

This is a savory dish which is beneficial to persons with asthenic body syndrome, indigestion, hypertension, high lipid level in the blood, constipation, and scanty urine.

NUTRITION FACTS

Author: Chef LE VAN QUYET (Middle)

Vingroup (Hanoi)

Runner-up in the Northern regional semifinal round of the 2013 Golden Spoon Awards