Coated shrimp in different forms and styles can be prepared from wild and farmed varieties. Generally, shrimp based coated products are expensive. The products from farmed shrimp have indicated longer frozen storage shelf life (16-18 months) compared to those from wild variety (12-14months) at 200C. The important steps in the production process are preparation of raw material, cold blanching in 1% brine (optional), pre-dusting, battering, breading, flash frying, packing, freezing and frozen storage. Black tiger shrimp or white shrimp of 26/30 to 31/40 counts /kg are generally used.
Pre-processing of prawn
* Wash the whole shrimp in potable water and remove the head.
* Remove the telson by gently raising upwards.
* Peel the shrimp leaving the shell intact on the last segment and the tail fans.
* De-vein the shrimp and trim the tail fans using a pair of scissors.
* Cut through the dorsal side length-wise using a sharp scalpel or knife (Butterfly cut) to partially separate the lateral muscle block. Gently open the cut surface to reveal the butterfly shape.
* Wash in chilled potable water and drain.
* Coat the butterfly shrimp with a thin layer of pre-dust followed by coating with a conventional (adhesive) batter or a tempura batter depending upon the market requirement.
* Coat the battered shrimp with breading (Japanese style light coloured coarse crumbs for Japan markets and darker coloured crumbs (yellow-orange) for European and US markets.
* Arrange the coated shrimp in PVC/polystyrene trays, preferably in “well” trays and vacuum pack in laminated pouches. Freeze at -40°C in an air blast freezer and store below -200C in master carton.
Method of Batter Preparation .
* Ingredients serially numbered from 2 to 8 are required for batter mix.
* The ingredients like American flour (maida), corn flour, bengal gram, salt, guar gum and turmeric powder should mix well.
* Add potable water to the dry batter mix in the 1:2 ratio (dry batter : water) to get batter mix.