Salt and Pepper Shrimp

Trim the antennae, legs and sharp rostrums. Cut the back shells open and remove the veins, keeping heads, tails and shells. Rinse and pat thoroughly dry, including the heads and back cuts.

Toss the 500 g shrimp with 1 tbsp cooking wine and marinate in the fridge for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the 2 tbsp minced garlic, 1 spring onion and 2 small red chilies; keep onion whites and greens separate.

While the shrimp marinate, toast 1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns in a dry wok over low heat for about 2 minutes until fragrant, without blackening. Cool briefly, grind finely and mix with ½ tsp fine salt. Reserve all of it for Step 8.

Discard the marinade and blot the shrimp dry again. Toss with 3 tbsp cornstarch for a thin coating, then shake off excess. Shell contours should remain visible, with no wet batter or thick clumps.

Add enough oil to a deep wok to cover a single layer of shrimp, keeping it below halfway up the wok. Heat to about 170°C. Fry in batches for about 1½–2 minutes, until orange-gold and the coating is set. Check one: the thickest flesh must be opaque. Drain on a rack and let the oil recover between batches.

Raise the oil to 180°C. Fry the shrimp again in batches for about 30 seconds until the coating is dry and crisp, then drain well immediately. Do not wait for dark-brown shells; the meat is cooked and prolonged frying dries it out.

Turn off the heat. Ladle the hot oil into a stable heatproof container, leaving 1 tbsp in the wok. Over medium-low heat, cook all the garlic, spring onion whites and red chili for about 30–45 seconds, until fragrant and the garlic is pale gold, not brown.

Return all the fried shrimp. Add all the salt-pepper mixture from Step 3 and all the spring onion greens. Toss for about 10–15 seconds until evenly coated with no liquid pooling. Turn off the heat, plate and serve immediately; peel away hard shells and heads as needed.