A deep-fried shrimp dish glazed in a sweet and spicy sauce. Easy and delicious!
This past weekend, we celebrated my mother’s 80th birthday with a Korean feast! I made several of our family favorites, such as galbijjim, bossam, japchae, nokdujeon, ojingeo muchim, saengseon jjim (steamed fish), and gujeolpan (platter of 9 delicacies). Most of these dishes are what she used to make for us on special occasions. My mother greatly enjoyed the food and family gathering!
This shrimp dish, called kkanpung saeu (깐풍새우), is another dish I prepared. It’s a deep-fried shrimp dish glazed in a sweet and spicy sauce. 
Like tangsuyuk, kkanpung saeu is a popular Korean-Chinese dish, which is a Chinese dish that’s adapted for the Korean palate by Chinese immigrants in Korea. Kkanpung is a Korean pronunciation of the Chinese word that refers to stir-frying until the sauce is all absorbed, and saeu (also spelled saewu or saewoo) means shrimp in Korean. When the dish is made with chicken, it’s called kkanpunggi (gi meaning chicken in Chinese).
You can use this kkanpung shrimp recipe to make the chicken version as well. Kkanpung dishes are typically served as appetizers to share at Korean-Chinese restaurants before eating jajangmyeon or jjambbong as a main dish. It can be pricey, but it’s easy to pull together at home!
To make the batter, I simply mix the shrimp with some potato starch and egg until the shrimp is evenly coated. This creates a light yet crispy coating. Be sure to deep-fry the shrimp twice for extra crispiness that will stand up to the sauce.
For a spicy kick, I used dried hot peppers to make chili infused oil, but you can use commercially prepared chili oil and/or fresh green/red hot peppers instead. You can always leave them out if you don’t want any spiciness.
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Ingredients
- 1 pound large shrimp about 22 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
- Oil for frying
Batter
- 8 tablespoons potato starch
- 1 egg
Aromatic vegetables
- 4 to 5 small dried red hot peppers roughly cut
- 5 garlic cloves thinly sliced
- 1- inch ginger thinly julienned
- 1 scallion finely chopped
- 1/4 medium onion finely diced
- 1/4 red bell pepper or 1 red chili pepper, finely diced
- 1 green chili pepper finely diced
Sauce
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons vinegar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons rice or dry white wine or use more water
- 2 tablespoons water or chicken or dashima broth
- 1/2 tablespoon sesame oil
Instructions
- Clean the shrimp, drain, and pat dry with paper towels. Lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper. Let it sit until ready to coat with the batter.
- Prepare the vegetables.
- In a small bowl, mix all the sauce ingredients, except the sesame oil, well until the sugar is dissolved.
- Add the starch and egg to the bowl with the shrimp. Mix everything well by hand until there's no visible starch powder and the shrimp is evenly coated with the batter.
- Add 4 cups of oil to a deep fryer, wok, or large pot. Heat over high heat to 340°F or until a drop of batter in the oil moderately bubbles up to the surface. Using metal tongs or chopsticks, drop the shrimp in the oil one at a time, in two batches. Cook until lightly golden, about a minute.
- Remove them quickly with a wire skimmer or a slotted spoon. Drain on a wire rack or in a large mesh strainer set on a bowl. Reheat the oil to 340°F between the batches and for the second frying.
- Add the shrimp (you can do this in one batch for the second frying) and briefly deep fry again until lightly golden brown. Drain on a wire rack or in a large mesh strainer.
- In a large pan or wok, add the dried pepper and 3 tablespoons of deep-frying oil over low heat until the oil starts to turn red. This only takes a few seconds. Do not burn the peppers.
- Turn up the heat to high. Add the garlic, ginger, onion, and scallion, and stir fry briefly until fragrant. Stir in the green chili pepper and red bell (or chili) pepper, and cook for an additional minute or two.
- Add the sauce, and boil for a couple of minutes until the sauce is slightly thickened, about 2 minutes.
- Drop the shrimp into the pan, and quickly stir everything together until the sauce is almost absorbed. Drizzle the sesame oil, and toss everything together again. Serve immediately.
Shelly says
This looks amazing! How in advance can you make it or does everything have to be done just before serving? Thanks
Hyosun says
You can prep up to step 3 and do the rest on the day as close as possible to serving time.
Cathy says
Which type of vinegar?
Hyosun says
Any clear vinegar will do. I typically use rice vinegar.
Christopher Keller says
Many, many thanks for this wonderful recipe! I was amazed at the punch of flavors in this dish. I happened to use chicken as the protein instead of shrimp. It was FANTASTIC. Thank you so very much again!
Hyosun says
Thank you! So happy to hear that! Oh chicken is great for this dish.
Diane says
Absolutely love all your recipes! This one made me look like a pro in front of all my friends and family- thank you!
Hyosun says
Aww that makes me so happy! Happy Korean cooking!
Angelique says
This was very delicious and now will make regularly. Made a few other recipes from this site. So glad I stumbled on koreanbalsang.com
Hyosun says
Awesome! Thanks for letting me know!
Teresa says
My husband is Korean born he came to the U.S when he was 5. Your recipes and food prep techniques are a God send and a staple in our home. I’m grateful to you for sharing your Korean food culture with the world … so delicious! You have enriched our lives and our dinner plates immensely. We thank you!
karen marie says
This is like my dream!
Hyosun says
Hope you try it soon!
Shelia McLendon says
I love Korean food…and I am going to make this dish!
Hyosun says
You’ll love it!
David says
This is a terrific site with great recipes. I’m a big fan!
Hyosun says
Thank you so much for being a big fan! I really appreciate it.
joongkoogjip says
Great Post.Thanks For sharing this post.
Han xi says
Can use rice to white wine ..??
The rice need to be in minced form ??
And add in water for more liquid form
Cherry Yu says
Made his today . Was really good , my husband said I need to make it every week .
WOMEN IN FARMING says
Great article……. the post is splendid, I love the Images of food which tells the sweetness of Korean dishes. Thanks
Hyosun says
Thank you!
kero says
This looks great! And I’m so glad to have discovered your blog. Delicious looking food and love your step by step photos!
Hyosun says
Welcome to Korean Bapsang, Kero! And thank you for the nice words. Hope you find many dishes to try.