Honey Walnut Shrimp · Daddy Lau

Peel and devein the 20 shrimp, cut each one lengthwise, and mix them with the 0.25 tsp of salt.

Make the sauce: mix the 4 tbsp of mayonnaise, the 3 tbsp of sweetened condensed milk and the 2 tsp of lemon juice in a bowl. Set it aside.

💡 Make this before you fry anything. Once the shrimp come out of the oil you have about a minute to dress them before the crust softens — that is not the moment to be opening a tin of condensed milk.

Make the batter: beat one egg and take half of it. Mix that half-egg with the 4 tbsp of flour, 2 tbsp of cornstarch, 2 tsp of baking powder, 2 tsp of corn oil and 7 tbsp of water until it is smooth and about as thick as a thin pancake batter.

💡 'Thin pancake batter' is the target to trust over the spoon counts, since flour absorbs water differently. Too thick and you get a bready shell; too thin and it slides off the shrimp in the fryer.

Optional: if you would rather not use honey, make the restaurant's sugar syrup instead. Mix the 3 tbsp of sugar with the 2 tbsp of water, microwave for 60 seconds, then twice more for 30 seconds each, stirring between rounds.

💡 The Laus are frank about why restaurants do this: honey is more expensive. It is a substitution for the honey on the walnuts only — it never goes near the mayonnaise sauce.

Heat your frying oil to 300°F (150°C) and fry the 3 oz of walnuts for 3–4 minutes.

💡 300°F is low for frying, deliberately. Walnuts have a lot of oil of their own and scorch fast — this stage is drying them crisp, not browning them.

Take the walnuts out. Bring the oil back up to temperature, coat the walnuts in the 2 tbsp of honey (or the sugar syrup), and fry them for about 2 more minutes.

Lift the walnuts out onto a rack or parchment, spread apart, and leave them to cool and harden.

💡 Spread them apart while they are still hot. Cooling honey glues walnuts into a single block, and prying that apart later takes half of the coating with it.

Coat the salted shrimp in the batter, letting the excess drip back off.

First fry: bring the oil to 350°F (177°C) and fry the shrimp for 2–3 minutes.

💡 This pass cooks the shrimp through and sets the batter. It will look pale and slightly soft coming out — that is correct, and it is not the finished article.

Second fry: raise the oil to 375–400°F (190–205°C) and fry the shrimp again for 60–90 seconds, until crisp and golden. Drain.

💡 The double fry is the whole reason this holds up under a mayonnaise sauce. The second, hotter pass drives out the surface moisture left by the first, so the crust can survive being coated.

Fold the hot shrimp through the mayonnaise sauce until each piece is coated.

💡 Fold, do not stir, and do it off the heat. The sauce is mayonnaise — hold it over a flame and it splits into oil and curds.

Plate, scatter over the candied walnuts and a shower of sesame seeds, and serve immediately.

💡 The walnuts go on at the table, not into the bowl with the sauce. Give them a minute in the mayonnaise and all that work at 300°F goes soft.