Shrimp is a famous specialty snack in Yichang, Hubei Province. It is soft, waxy, cool and delicious. Cook with rice flour, and leak it into a cold water basin with a colander, and break it into small pieces. It is big and thin, and looks like a shrimp. Then take it out and eat it in brown sugar water, so it's called cool shrimp.

Shrimp is a summer dessert. It is not only simple to make, but also delicious, tender and refreshing. Eating in the mouth is sweet but not greasy, cooling and relieving summer heat, satisfying thirst. It's like I liked it once. It's really delicious.

At present, the most authentic shrimp in Hubei is cold shrimp. Of course, the practices in different places are similar, but the basic processes and techniques are the same. My family does it once every summer. Let's share some of my little experiences.

First, prepare raw materials (rice flour and limewater)

1, prepare rice noodles (also called sticky rice noodles)

The main raw material of cold shrimp is rice flour, which is the flour ground from the rice we eat every day. This kind of flour is also called sticky rice flour or indica rice flour. This kind of flour can be made at home, or you can buy finished rice noodles directly. It is sold in supermarkets and is very cheap.

If you do it yourself, do this: take a proper amount of rice and soak it in water, which usually takes about 10 hour (we can soak it at night and do it the next day). The soaked rice will break when you pinch it with your hand, and it will be fine.

Step 2 prepare limewater

① Why use limewater: Adding clear limewater to the cold shrimp can make the rice slurry coagulate smoothly, increase the natural fragrance and sweetness of the cold shrimp, enrich the taste of the cold shrimp, change the properties of the cold shrimp, and change it from acidic to alkaline, and from noodles to low-calorie healthy food.

(2) Lime water preparation: the lime powder is poured into clear water and stirred evenly to clarify it for later use. The optimum ratio of quicklime powder to water is 1: 70. This ratio is particularly important. If there is less water, the finished product will not be shaped, and the taste will be bad. If there is more water, the finished product will not be strong and will not rebound, which will also affect the taste. Therefore, we must master this ratio.

Step 2, making rice slurry.

Pour the soaked rice into a wall-breaking machine, add a proper amount of water and grind it into rice slurry. However, it should be noted here that it must be ground very finely, without any residue, and then the large particles are filtered out with a fine gong, otherwise the taste of the final product will be affected.

If you buy finished rice flour, just add the same amount of water and mix it evenly, which is more convenient, and there is no granular residue, which is also a very good choice.

Third, make shrimp salad.

Pour the beaten rice slurry into the pot, then add the clarified limewater, and keep stirring in one direction, on the one hand, let the rice slurry be heated evenly, on the other hand, prevent the bottom of the pot from pasting. Be sure to stir quickly and continuously. The rice paste will slowly turn from thin to thick, and then from thick to thin when it is almost ready. At this time, use a small fire until the rice paste becomes transparent, drop by drop into the water, and it will solidify immediately, so you can turn off the fire and cook.

At this time, pour the hot rice paste into the colander for cold shrimp, and catch the bottom of the colander with a basin full of cold water. Using gravity, the rice paste slowly oozes out and drops into cold water to solidify. If the rice paste does not leak out, squeeze the rice paste with a spoon to let the rice paste leak out completely.

Let the shrimp soak in cold water for a while. 10 minutes later, put the shrimp in the refrigerator for later use. At this point, the cold shrimp is finished.

Fourth, eat shrimp salad.

Finally, eat cold shrimp, usually with brown sugar and water. Brown sugar water can be prepared in advance, put in the refrigerator and poured out when eating, which will be more refreshing. There is no fixed proportion of brown sugar water, so it can be made according to your own preferences. If you want to eat dessert, put more brown sugar, or put less.

Of course, my family sometimes eats salty cold shrimp, that is, I make a sauce (the sauce is also random, and my family usually makes soup with broth, and then adds mushrooms, minced meat, ginger slices, chicken essence, soy sauce, oyster sauce and so on. ), pour it on the shrimp, add some soy sauce, chopped green onion, sesame oil, etc. So it tastes good, haha, especially delicious.

Summary: The above are some of my family's experiences in making cold shrimp, including the most classic production methods in Hubei, as well as our own innovative methods. When you are making, you can make it according to this idea, and the main process should not change. About eating, it is more casual. After all, everyone has different tastes and preferences.