Chow Har Kew is a luxurious version of a Chinese Shrimp and Vegetable stir-fry, with crispy, golden shrimp! Deep-frying meats or proteins—in this case large shrimp—and then tossing them in a velvety sauce makes a Chinese-banquet-worthy dish.
The name Chow Har Kew is the way this dish usually appears in English on Chinese restaurant menus, though a spelling that more accurately reflects how it’s pronounced in Cantonese would be ‘Chow Ha Kow.’
However it’s spelled, chow har kew literally means “stir-fried shrimp balls.” The concept is similar to one of our other recipes, Chow Steak Kow, where large chunks of steak pieces are seared and stir-fried with Chinese vegetables.
How to Prepare Shrimp for Stir-Fry?
There are several ways to prepare shrimp for stir-frying, depending upon the dish. For this recipe, it’s best to use large peeled and de-veined shrimp. Make sure to use a sharp knife and cut them slightly more open from the back. This allows them to open up and curl into a ball shape when cooked.
Rinse the shrimp clean, drain well, and pat dry with a paper towel. Since we are deep-frying the shrimp, there is no need to velvet it. Check our post on how to prepare shrimp for Chinese cooking for a complete guide, including tips and tricks.
Choosing Your Vegetables
Bok choy is the most common vegetable in Chinese dishes of this type, along with the traditional trio of mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and water chestnuts. Snap peas are usually included, although I prefer fresh snow peas which have more tender pods.
But when it comes to Chinese vegetable stir-fry dishes, there are really no rules. Use broccoli instead of bok choy, add celery, carrots, napa cabbage, or whatever you have available in your refrigerator.
Chow Har Kew Recipe Instructions
Make a ¼-inch deep cut down the entire back of each shrimp. Rinse, drain, and pat dry with a paper towel. Prepare all of your vegetables—the bok choy, snow peas, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and water chestnuts—and have them ready before you start cooking.
Premix the sauce by combining the chicken stock, oyster sauce, Shaoxing wine, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, white pepper.
Make the dry mix for the batter by combining the all-purpose flour, salt, baking powder, onion powder, garlic powder, and white pepper. Right before you are ready to fry the shrimp, mix in the seltzer/club soda to form a batter.
In a wok or small pot, heat 2 to 3 cups of canola oil to 325°F/160°C. You’ll fry the shrimp in 2 to 3 batches. Mix your dry ingredients with seltzer to form your batter.
Place the shrimp into the batter to fully coat. Carefully lift each shrimp out of the batter, letting any excess drip off. Quickly, carefully place each shrimp into the hot oil. Increase the heat as needed to keep the oil temperature at 325°F/160°C. Gently move the shrimp around until they are a light golden color, about 2 minutes. Repeat with the remaining shrimp, and let all of the shrimp rest for about 5 minutes.
Shrimp Frying Tips:
- Frying in small batches allows you to use less oil overall. It also prevents the shrimp from sticking together or to the pot.
- Use an instant-read thermometer to check the oil temperature so you can increase or decrease the heat as needed to maintain a 325°F/160°C temperature for the first fry, and 350°F/177°C for the second fry.
- You can do the second fry in fewer batches, since there is no risk of the shrimp sticking together. This also means the shrimp will all cook at the same time.
- For best results, do the second fry right before you are ready to make the sauce and finish the dish.
Meanwhile, bring a medium pot of water to a boil, and add the bok choy, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and water chestnuts. After 20 seconds, stir in the snow peas. Then use a strainer to lift everything out of the water onto a plate.
Next, bring the frying oil back up to 350°F/177°C, and re-fry the shrimp in 1-2 batches until crispy and golden brown. Set aside and start right in to making your sauce because you don’t want the shrimp to sit very long after the second fry.
Use a spider or slotted spoon to remove the shrimp from the oil. Heat the wok to just smoking, and add 1 tablespoon of the frying oil. Stir in the chopped garlic. Immediately pour in your sauce mixture, and bring it to a boil. Stir up your cornstarch slurry mixture, and stir it into the sauce.
Toss in the blanched vegetables until they are coated with sauce and heated through. This takes about 20 seconds, and the sauce should be bubbling. Turn off the heat, add the fried shrimp, and gently toss a few times. The shrimp doesn’t need to be completely coated in sauce (giving you both crispy and saucy textures in the dish).
Chef’s Secret Stir-fry Tip!
Once you toss the shrimp into the sauce, dip your wok spatula into the frying oil and spread about 2 teaspoons of oil around the perimeter of the wok. Chinese restaurant chefs use this technique to give the dish an extra sheen. This also coats the wok spatula in oil so the sauce releases easily.
Plate and serve immediately!
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Recipe
Chow Har Kew (Crispy Shrimp with Vegetables)
Ingredients
- 12 ounces peeled, deveined jumbo shrimp (16-20 size; about 15 shrimp)
- 6 ounces bok choy (about 2 cups; we used the white stemmed variety)
- 2 ounces snow peas (about 1/2 cup)
- 2 ounces white button mushrooms (about 1/4 cup)
- 2 ounces sliced bamboo shoots (about 1/4 cup)
- 2 ounces sliced water chestnuts (about 1/4 cup)
- ¾ cup chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
- 1½ tablespoons light soy sauce
- ¼ teaspoon dark soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon sesame oil
- ⅛ teaspoon white pepper
- 2 to 3 cups canola oil or peanut oil (for frying)
- 2 cloves garlic (chopped)
- 1½ tablespoons cornstarch (mixed with 2 tablespoons water)
For the shrimp batter:
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon onion powder
- ⅛ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 pinch white pepper
- ½ cup cold plain seltzer or club soda
Instructions
- Make a ¼-inch deep cut down the entire back of each shrimp. Rinse, drain, and pat dry with a paper towel. Prepare all of your vegetables—the bok choy, snow peas, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and water chestnuts—and have them ready before you start cooking.
- Premix the sauce by combining the chicken stock, oyster sauce, Shaoxing wine, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, white pepper.
- In a wok or small pot, heat 2 to 3 cups of canola oil to 325°F/160°C. You’ll fry the shrimp in 2 to 3 batches. Make the dry mix for the batter by combining the all-purpose flour, salt, baking powder, onion powder, garlic powder, and white pepper. Right before frying, mix dry ingredients with seltzer to form your batter.
- Place the shrimp into the batter to fully coat. Carefully lift each shrimp out of the batter, letting any excess drip off. Quickly, carefully place each shrimp into the hot oil. Increase the heat as needed to keep the oil temperature at 325°F/160°C. Gently move the shrimp around until light golden, about 2 minutes. Repeat with the remaining shrimp, and let all of the shrimp rest for about 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, bring a medium pot of water to a boil, and add the bok choy, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and water chestnuts. After 20 seconds, stir in the snow peas. Then use a strainer to lift everything out onto a plate.
- Next, bring the frying oil back up to 350°F/177°C, and re-fry the shrimp in 1-2 batches until crispy and golden brown. Set aside and start right in to making your sauce because you don’t want the shrimp to sit very long after the second fry.
- Use a spider or larger strainer to remove the shrimp from the oil. Heat the wok to just smoking, and add 1 tablespoon of the frying oil. Stir in the chopped garlic. Immediately pour in your sauce mixture, and bring it to a boil. Stir up your cornstarch slurry mixture, and stir it into the sauce.
- Toss in the blanched vegetables until they are coated with sauce and heated through. This takes about 20 seconds, and the sauce should be bubbling. Turn off the heat, add the fried shrimp, and gently toss a few times. The shrimp doesn’t need to be completely coated in sauce (giving you both crispy and saucy textures in the dish). Plate and serve immediately!
