Fun fact: Mai’s first ever taste of beer was through this dish as a kid.

If you want a super easy and delicious appetizer or dinner idea, this is the recipe for you.

These lemongrass and ginger beer-boiled shrimps take less than 15 minutes to prepare and they are so good!

Some people steam the shrimps with beer, but my family prefers cooking the shrimps directly in the beer because we think the flavors are stronger this way. The flavors of the lager, lemongrass, and ginger soak into the shrimps beautifully- giving them a wonderful unique taste.

While we’re calling it a “boil”, this recipe uses just enough beer to barely cover the shrimps- unlike the full-pot Cajun style boils you might be imagining. Think of it as half way between boiling and steaming!

Oh and of course, they go perfectly with a glass of ice cold beer!

Tôm luộc bia • Vietnamese Beer Shrimps

Course: Dinner, AppetizersCuisine: VietnameseDifficulty: Easy

Makes

2

servings

Prep time

5

minutes

Cooking time

8

minutes

Total time

13

minutes

Ingredients

• 2 lbs 2 uncooked shrimp (head & shell on)

• 1 stalk 1 lemongrass

• 2 inch 2 fresh ginger

• 1 tbsp 1 coarse sea salt

• 1 can/bottle 1 lager beer (we use Heineken)

• Fine sea salt

• Ground pepper

• 1 1 lime

Directions

• Rinse shrimps well
• Remove tough outer layers of lemongrass, cut into 2 inch lengths, smash with the flat side of your knife or a hammer.
• Peel ginger, cut into slices, smash with the flat side of your knife.
• Toss shrimps with coarse sea salt
• Add shrimps to a pot. If you have a large enough pot to arrange shrimps in a single layer, they will cook more evenly.
• Scatter lemongrass and ginger across the top of the shrimps.
• Pour in enough beer to barely cover the shrimps.
• Cover and turn on the stove to medium high.
• Cook shrimps until bottom side turns red, flip, and cook until other side is also red- about 5-8 minutes.
  Do not over cook as shrimps will become tough and lose flavor.
• Mix together fine sea salt and ground pepper to your liking. Add a squeeze of lime to make the dipping “sauce”.

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