【臺味食譜】醉蝦 Drunken Prawns
這幾天倫敦終於有夏天的感覺。今年的天氣走的是沒有過渡期的極端路線，前一天還冷到要穿大外套，隔天突然變成什麼都不想穿的酷暑，就像踩空樓梯瞬間掉進夏天。
住在沒冷氣閣樓的大熱天，能不開火就不開火，若真要開火也是速速煮完，每天就是各種涼拌菜輪流上陣。今天就來分享我夏天涼菜標配醉蝦，簡單迅速沒什麼失敗的可能，冰一大盒放冰箱，上菜洗盤不過是幾秒鐘上下的光景，吃完帶點微醺剛好睡個午覺。
My grandma is from somewhere around Shanghai and she uses Shaohsing rice wine instead of Taiwanese rice wine as most Taiwanese families do. One of her special dishes for LNY is drunken chicken. This is a very common dish for both Taiwanese and Chinese people, and it requires a great amount of Shaohsing along with chicken stock to soak the chicken for a couple of days, so the chicken becomes “drunk”.
Using this same method, you can make almost anything drunk. The other popular options are prawns, egg, and chicken feet. This dish is served cold, which is perfect for the hot summer: refreshing and tipsy, ask no more.
【食材 Ingredients】
- 白蝦 prawns 15隻/pieces
- 紹興 Shaohsing wine* 100–150ml
- 薑 ginger 2–3片/slices
- 當歸 angelica* 2–3片/slices
- 紅棗 red dates* 2–3顆/pieces
- 枸杞 koji berries* 少許/a few
- 鹽 salt 1–2 teaspoon
*Shaohsing wine is the key flavor of this dish. It tastes like sherry: something deep and unique. Is important to use good quality Shaohsing. The one I used is the same one my grandma always uses.
*紹興酒我奶奶都買菸酒公賣局出的。倫敦也買得到（各大超市與亞超皆可找到）。但加到湯裡前最好還是試吃一下，我也是買過同牌但變質的酒。
*All the Chinese dried spices can be easily bought in any Asian shop. If you don’t want to buy them just to use them once, it wouldn’t be the end of the world if you didn’t include them all, but your drunken prawns will taste less flavourful. If I had to choose only one to add, I would pick the angelica.
*講究一點的可以先幫蝦一一剪鬚去腸泥，我這次是坦蕩蕩的展現隨性真面目，整隻蝦沒處理直接煮，省了不少時間
【作法 Steps】
1. 煮一小鍋熱水，加入薑片。水滾放蝦煮到蝦一轉紅立刻撈起冰鎮（水蝦比例大概是水稍微淹過蝦）
Boil a small saucepan of water (enough to cover the prawns). Add some ginger. Once the water is boiled, add the prawns. When they turn red, immediately remove from the pan and cool down in ice water.
2. 取大約500ml的煮蝦水，濾網過濾雜質後加入100ml紹興 （紹興與湯汁比例很看個人，喜歡酒味重的可以多加，喜歡蜻蜓點水酒味的少加一點）。加鹽與中藥材。
Keep 500ml of the prawn water, strain and mix with 100ml of Shaohsing. Add salt and all the Chinese dried spices. (It’s really a personal choice regarding the stock. If you would like it stronger, you can increase the wine)
3.試吃一下湯汁，味道應該要比湯稍鹹。湯汁味道調整好之後，加入蝦子進去泡。泡個一天兩天即可拿出來吃。
Taste. The liquid mixture should taste slightly saltier than soup. Once you are happy with the taste, add the prawns in the box and let them soak in the sauce for 1–2 days.
