Shrimp in Caramel Sauce (Tom Kho)
This simple dish exemplifies how the Vietnamese kho method of cooking sends an already tasty ingredient such as shrimp into a new dimension. Nowadays, it seems uncouth to overcook seafood. However, in this application, the longer cooking allows all the flavors to thoroughly penetrate the shrimp. Unlike other kho dishes, this recipe doesn’t ask you to sweat the juices out by covering the pan with a lid; shrimp is delicate and requires faster “open” cooking to concentrate the flavors. The onions should practically disintegrate into the sauce. Adding the oil at the end lends a bit of extra richness; traditionally more lard or oil was added than prescribed here to also give an appetizing sheen to the shrimp.
This may seem like a lot of shrimp for four, but I’ve observed my friends snap these guys up like crazy, sometimes even eating them without rice.
Place the shrimp, salt, fish sauce and Caramel Sauce into a shallow saucepan. Bring to a vigorous simmer over high heat. Add the yellow onion and pepper, stirring to evenly distribute. Continue cooking over high heat, occasionally turning the shrimp so that they’re well coated with sauce. They’ll curl up and release their juices to combine with the other ingredients and concentrate into a dark sauce. Add a little water if things get too dry.
The shrimp are done when they’ve taken on an orange-brown color and have a pleasant sweet chewiness, about 8 to 10 minutes after you’ve added the onion and pepper. There will be a few tablespoons of sauce in the pan. Remove from the heat, add the oil and stir to coat the shrimp. Scatter the green onion on top and serve with lots of steamed rice.
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