I’ve been in Portugal for over a week now, and I’m really settling in. My legs are adjusting to the steep, cobblestone streets. The people are friendly, curious, and welcoming. The food is simple. But so delicious. Our favorite lunch is the bifanas at Conga, which I’ll write more about later. Slow-cooked pork in a spicy sauce, spooned onto soft bread buns. We’ve tried pastel de nata, tarte de amendoa, rissois, baccalau, and we’ve baked chocolate chip cookies. There’s a long cobblestone street near our apartment, lined with alternating black and white stones. They remind me of my favorite black and white shrimp toast recipe, Chinese takeout style.

Arriving in Portugal

We arrived in Porto on a steep side street just outside of the main city with our suitcases in tow. We unpacked and showered and finally napped for hours after an exhausting journey. Then, the next day we explored the city. I bursted out of our front door and bounded down the steep street towards town. Past a small bakery and an empanada shop where we took shelter from the pouring rain.

Porto has bakeries, clothing stores, fruit vendors, elderly people walking amongst young people zipping on scooters. Scruffy dogs on leashes and the rounded sound of Portuguese. The street into town is made of white and black stones, alternating in artistic stripes. I stopped to take photos on my phone. The stones are jagged and worn, like sesame seeds. As I walked with water dropping on my hood, my mind drifted back to my shrimp toast recipe (Chinese takeout style) on a rainy day in Maine.

Eating My First Shrimp Toast Recipe (Chinese Takeout)

I have been a huge fan of fried shrimp toast for as long as I can remember. It’s a simple, fried, Chinese snack food made of shrimp paste slathered on white bread and cooked in a wok. The shrimp paste is sprinkled or pressed with sesame seeds before frying, which provides a glorious crunch and umami flavor. I remember watching a Chinese cooking show on the Cooking Channel when I was about 10. When I first started to fall in love with cooking. The warm woman with a comforting voice so effortlessly flipped her shrimp toast recipe Chinese takeout style in the hot oil with a chopstick. And I was hooked.

After that I begged my mom to find a place where we could try it. Coincidentally, fried shrimp toast is one of her favorite foods which she hadn’t been able to find in years. So, with a lack of authentic Asian restaurants in our small Maine town, I went years without trying it. And finally when I was old enough, I was gifted a wok for my birthday, I went on a pilgrimage to find milk bread, fresh shrimp, Chinese sauces, and sesame seeds. The first attempts were glorious, my crispy triangles of fried shrimp toast perfumed with umami. Soy. Sesame. We dipped them in duck sauce from our local American Chinese restaurant.

Making Fried Shrimp Toast

Fast forward to this year, and I now make fried shrimp toast all the time. It’s a familiar comfort food for me and my family. So, I decided to elevate it further with white and black sesame seeds. I went about my regular fried shrimp toast recipe, blending shrimp with egg white and sauces, slicing triangles of white bread. And I artfully arranged my black and white sesame seeds in alternating stripes on my cutting board.

After nearly 30 minutes of arranging sesame seeds with a bench scraper and a chopstick, I finally dipped my shrimp-coated bread triangles carefully onto the stripes and placed them on a baking sheet before frying. I was floored by how well it worked, and how beautiful the black and white pattern was. The black sesame seeds have a slightly sweeter and more intense flavor than white sesame seeds. So, I was also excited to taste my final product.

Sesame Seed Stripes

I heated up my wok with frying oil, and when it was hot enough I carefully placed in several triangles of shrimp toast at a time, sesame seed-side down. After a few minutes I flipped them over with a chopstick, thinking back to my introduction to shrimp toast as a kid on TV. I browned the bottoms of the bread triangles until golden brown and transferred them to a paper towel-lined sheet to drain.

Finally, after a few minutes, all the triangles were fried. My fried shrimp toast was ready to eat. I had scallions on hand and thought about making a fancy aioli to garnish them. But, because the sesame seed stripes were so beautiful, I decided to serve them as is. After taking photos, my family gathered for dinner and we dipped them in our favorite duck sauce, just like we always do. It glazed the sesame seeds like rain on cobblestone.

Enjoying Porto

The black and white sesame seeds slightly deepen in color when fried. So, the off-white sesame seeds remind me so much of the aged cobblestone in Porto. I’m finding so much similarity here between the warm European culture and Maine. The people are hospitable. The seagulls scream by the water. The smell of salt and fresh fish permeates the air and tourists walk the cobblestone streets and sidewalks with ice cream cones and pastels in paper boxes.

The Douro river, which runs through the middle of the city, is filled with old boats with colorful flags and wooden wine barrels. The view from the bridge is a tessellation of endless colorful buildings bathing in sun. Metal gondolas sail over the river on metal cables. White tents line the edge of the river with vendors selling jewelry, wooden sculptures, belts, and halts.

Occasionally you can hear a young person jump off the lower bridge and their friends cheering them on. There are street performers singing popular American songs for tips – Coldplay mostly. Pigeons scour the edge of the river for scraps of food. Trolleys pass through the hills carting people from peak to valley. People sit outside and lap up the sun and the smell of the salt water with bacalau, octopus rice, and port wine. Tourists take photos from the top of the city and children play with soccer balls.

Trying New Foods

As we continue our journey in Portugal, we are on a mission to try all the foods that the city has to offer. Delectable, unique pastries. Portuguese hot dogs with French fries, pressed in panini machines and slathered in a spicy sauce. Tender bifanas on deliciously-soaked bread. Fried cod fritters and Portuguese French toast.

And of course, like Maine, we plan to try as much local seafood as possible. Octopus salads, fried fish. Salt cod. And of course, shrimp. I’m on a mission to find garlic shrimp and to compare the shrimp here with that back home in Maine. I’m so grateful and happy to be here, all the way on the other side of the Atlantic. I feel at home. I feel welcome here. And I can’t wait to continue sharing my discoveries. The magic of food, people, and travel.

Thank you for reading, as always! If you enjoy my recipes and paintings, be sure to check out my Etsy for 100’s of art prints and recipe cards. Use code THEFORKEDRING for 25% off.

Print Pin

Black and White Shrimp Toast

My favorite Chinese snack food with black and white sesame seeds

Course Main Course, Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine American, Chinese

Keyword shrimp, shrimp toast

Prep Time 45 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 16

Author theforkedring

Ingredients

• 1 lb shrimp peeled and deveined
• 2 egg whites
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp sweet soy sauce
• 2 tsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 3 tsp thai chilli sauce
• 2 tbsp fresh peeled ginger
• 1 tsp peeled garlic
• 1/2 cup green onion / scallions
• 1 tsp rice vinegar
• 2 cups Black + white sesame seeds
• 1 loaf day-old sourdough or white bread
• 2 cups vegetable oil

Instructions

• Add your shrimp, egg whites, salt, soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, Thai chili sauce, ginger, garlic, green onions, and vinegar to a large blender and pulse until mostly combined. Feel free to leave chunks of shrimp.
• Slice your bread into 8 pieces, and then slice each piece in half to make triangles.
• Spread each triangle of bread with a dollop of shrimp mixture, spreading evenly onto the bread.
• After your bread is prepared, spread your white and black sesame seeds in alternating stripes on a large cutting board. Carefully place each of your shrimp toast triangles shrimp-side down onto the sesame seeds. Be careful not to disturb the other seeds.
• Heat a large wok with vegetable or peanut oil until hot (about 350°F). Place 3-5 pieces of shrimp toast in your hot oil, carefully, sesame seed side down.
• Fry each batch of shrimp toast for 2-3 minutes on a side until golden brown. Drain on a wire rack or a paper towel-lined baking sheet.
• Serve with soy sauce, chili mayonnaise, or duck sauce. Garnish with extra green onions.