#deltarule inspired recipe

[castletown-cafe]

Castletown Café Episode 23: Fried Pipis

“HEY EVERY !! IT’S ME!! SPAM-  SPAMTON G. SPAMTON! [Back by popular demand] W1TH [[AN ALL-NEW]] VERY SPECIL PRODUCT!! Y0U [Want it? Need it?] MORE [[PIPIS]]? YOU [GOT IT]!! EAHEAHEAHEAHEA!!”

Another Spring, another pipis recipe!

If you’ve played a certain...alternate route in Chapter 2, you’re likely familiar with the FriedPipis action you can take during the final battle. This action implies that pipis may be edible. This wouldn’t be too surprising, since they resemble eggs and are described as “an invasive species of freshwater clam”.

Which gave me the idea of a scotch egg with a shrimp filling instead of sausage.

While I mostly stick to plant protein, seafood was the one meat I just couldn’t give up, so I still eat it from time to time. I thought a Scotch egg with shrimp sounded delicious (especially with soy sauce), though unsurprisingly, finely minced shrimp doesn’t hold together as nicely as ground sausage, beef, or plant-based protein. I solved this problem by making a “shrimp batter” by mixing together the minced raw shrimp with beaten egg, panko, and flour in order for it to hold together. Minced scallions, ginger, and soy sauce were extra ingredients added to give the batter even more flavor. The eggs were coated in this batter before breading them.

If you’re either allergic to shellfish or just don’t like seafood, you can always make a traditional Scotch egg instead with ground sausage, turkey, or impossible sausage. I bet it’ll be easier than a shrimp batter.

The hardest part, of course, is step one: soft-boiling the eggs. In order to prevent the eggs from overcooking during the frying stage, the eggs are soft-boiled as opposed to hard-boiled.

Soft-boiling eggs is tricky. There are a lot of variables involved that can get in the way of perfect eggs - even professional chefs can’t always get it 100%! Things like the altitude you live in, or the size or freshness of an egg, all play a role in whether or not the shell will stick to the egg. Although the eggs you buy at a grocery store might have aged enough for the shell to slide off without a hitch after boiling, it’s recommended to buy your eggs at least a week in advance, just in case.

For soft-boiling, the trick I was shown (thank you, roomie) is to, for one, reduce the heat from high to medium high shortly before adding in the eggs. Do it carefully with a slotted spoon. Immediately, once the eggs are all in, set your timer to 8 minutes. Since I use the timer on my phone, I set it to 8 before the eggs are submerged, but don’t hit start until after they’re all in there. Soft-boiling the eggs for a full 8 minutes should help prevent the eggs from sticking to the shell when it’s time to peel them.

While they’re boiling and your timer’s ticking, fill up a bowl of cold water and add plenty of ice. Do not skimp. The eggs will go immediately into that ice water once they’re done. This will stop them from continuing to cook. Be sure to remove the eggs off the heat first because you will be adding them one at a time into the bowl of ice water.

You can let ‘em cool for however long you like, and you could stick ‘em in the fridge once they’re done, but since you’ll be dyeing the eggs next, I suggest keeping them at room temperature after they are done cooling.

Next, it’s time to peel and dye the eggs. Hopefully you got lucky and your eggs slid out of their shells just fine. If they’re a little messy, no worries - they’ll be coated in shrimp batter and fried anyway. For the dye, simply make a solution using water, rice vinegar, and a mix of blue and green food coloring.

PIPIS TRANSFORMATION POTION:

2 cups water

4 tablespoons rice vinegar

24 drops blue food coloring

10 drops green food coloring

The longer you leave the eggs in, the more vivid the color will get. Once done, remove the eggs from their dye bath and place them on a plate lined with a paper towel to absorb some of that excess dye. Blot them with another paper towel to dry them off a little so that the flour and batter will stick to the eggs better. Finally, it’s time to make the shrimp batter.

FRIED PIPIS:

Batter:

1 and 1/4 cup finely minced raw shrimp (pre-prepared: headless, tailless, deveined and peeled)

1 to 2 beaten eggs

About 4 finely minced scallion whites

1 thumb freshly minced ginger

2 teaspoons soy sauce (you can add a little more to taste if you’d like)

1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons panko

1/2 cup four

Assembly:

4 soft-boiled eggs, cooled, peeled, and dyed

Shrimp batter

1 cup flour

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup panko

Wash and dry both your scallions and ginger. Peel and cut off about a thumb of ginger and mince it into tiny pieces. Mince your scallion whites likewise, and add both into a mixing bowl.

Since you will be mincing raw meat next, grab a different cutting board if you have one to keep your main one clean, and chop a couple heaping handfuls of shrimp into small chunks, enough to fill a measuring cup up to 1 and 1/4 cup. Add to your mixing bowl, then thoroughly wash your hands, knife, cutting board, and work surface afterward!

Next, beat eggs in a small bowl and pour it in. Add in your soy sauce, panko, and flour, then mix it all together until your batter has formed.

Re-use the bowl you beat your eggs in to beat two more eggs for the outer layer of panko coating.

Get two more bowls, one for flour, and one for panko. Pour a cup of flour in one bowl, and a cup of panko in the other.

Grab your eggs and begin the assembly! First, coat your eggs in flour so that the batter can stick to the egg easier, then coat that sucker up in the batter. Roll your battered egg in the flour once again, then the beaten egg, and finally the panko. Repeat this process until all of your eggs are battered and breaded.

Heat a pot with plenty of oil for frying. With the use of a candy or deep-fat thermometer, keep an eye on the temperature so that it reaches at least 375 degrees F. Once your oil is hot enough, it’s time to fry!

Fry your [PIPIS] until the panko is golden brown and the shrimp is fully cooked on the inside. It may be hard to tell when they’re done, as the outside will cook the fastest. The microwave is your friend if the shrimp hasn’t cooked all the way.

Enjoy! And....don’t manipulate your friends into freezing everyone in sight......