(All Chinese New Year recipes can be found here.)
Lunar New Year is a few days away and falls on Sunday, February 10 this year. This is the year of Snake and the Chinese, Koreans, and Vietnamese will be celebrating the new year. As a Chinese, there are many taboos that we follow to rid of bad luck, for example: not sweeping the floor on the first day of Chinese New Year because you will be sweeping away all the good luck/fortune in the new year. I remember growing up, I was wondering why our house was so dirty during Chinese New Year, as there were litters and debris from the prayers and firecrackers in our front yard, but my mother and aunt would always say “DO NOT SWEEP THE FLOOR.” Such was fond memories of celebrating Chinese New Year in Penang, Malaysia.
Now, let’s talk about food. Chinese New Year is all about feasting, eating lots of good food that signifies great fortune, happiness, and prosperity. Shrimp is always a great dish to serve as the Cantonese pronunciation of 虾 sounds like 哈, which means laughter or happiness.
Coincidentally, I received a few requests from my readers how to prepare Shrimp with Lobster Sauce, a very popular Americanized Chinese dish. So, here I share with you my Shrimp with Lobster Sauce recipe, which you can prepare to celebrate Chinese New Year. One thing that I need to clarify is that no lobster is used in this dish. This is pretty much a shrimp dish with a Cantonese-style egg sauce. As to why it’s called a lobster sauce, I have no idea. But being a Chinese, I think whoever invented the dish is a smart marketing whiz as it sounds so much more delicious with the word lobster in its name.
I have MANY Chinese/Lunar New Year recipes here on Rasa Malaysia. Please click here to check them out. If you are cooking abalone for your family, you have to start cooking NOW as it takes days. My recipe of braised abalone and sea cucumber is here.
Have a healthy and prosperous Snake Year. Gong Xi Fa Cai!
Other Recipes You Might Like:
More Delicious Recipes:
Dragon Well Tea Shrimp
Salt and Pepper Shrimp
Cashew Shrimp
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Chae Cho via Facebook
YUMMERS! :D
Lail | With A Spin
Happy New Year. The shrimp looks scrumptious.
christine
Bee, try to add some black beans and oyster sauce. The taste will be totally different. More flavorful…
Rasa Malaysia
Yes, I know about black beans and oyster sauce but I wanted to make this recipe very accessible to everyone without buying many new ingredients. Hence I use chicken broth and salt and sugar to taste. :)
James G
I’m pretty sure it’s called lobster sauce because it is often served with lobster (same reason why they call “duck sauce” “duck sauce”).
justine
Hi Bee! I’m so excited to try this out. I’ve been looking for a recipe for fish fillet with crab meat sauce which I’ve tried in a Chinese restaurant and I’m amused to find out that it might actually be just egg white sauce. Just want to know if you made the chicken broth from scratch or is it okay to just use chicken powder or chicken cube?
I’ve also checked out your shrimp recipes and honestly, I don’t know which one to try first. They all look delicious and easy to make. By the way, just tried your Chinese honey chicken recipe for lunch and my husband and daughter loved it.
Thanks Bee for the cooking tips and secrets you share on Chinese cooking. I can say that now RASA MALAYSIA is my favorite cooking blog.
Rasa Malaysia
Thanks. You can just buy store canned chicken broth.
Jane
Have made this several times luv it
Rasa Malaysia
Awesome.
Catherine
My husband loves this recipe. Now he won’t go out for Chinese food because he likes mine better.
Rasa Malaysia
That’s great to hear. :)
Angela Tellone Hatch via Facebook
Are those green things peas or sliced green onions? There are two kinds of shrimp with lobster sauce. There is also a recipe that has ground pork in the sauce. Are you planning to publish that one?
Charis Kelly via Facebook
Oh I miss this I don’t see it on menus down here so will be trying this at home thank you
Rasa Malaysia via Facebook
Angela Tellone Hatch just add some ground pork and you have that version. :)
EngKeen Ken via Facebook
what about lobster with dragon sauce?
SALLY TEWS
Wow Bee~this recipe looks just Awesome~I am going to try it next.
Your recipes are great~thank you for all.
Teresa
I like this recipe, I don’t always have black beans but I always have stock. Use this recipe different ways for different flavors.
Jayne
I don’t see black beans in the ingredients list…?
Rasa Malaysia
I opted out to make it more accessible to people who don’t have all the special ingredients in their pantry.
Jayne
The name of this is pretty ingenius. I guess for the Chinese, if you hear lobster then you’d be excited. haha… Seems like a simple shrimp dish to prepare!
Serene
Would like to try this recipe but what’s the best option for the cooking wine – can we (muslims) omit or sub with plain white vinegar? Thanks
Rasa Malaysia
Just skip the wine.
Angela Tellone Hatch via Facebook
Do you add anything to the ground pork – onions, garlic, ginger, spices or herbs?
Spice Quest via Facebook
Great picture and recipe, Gong Hei Fa Choi!
Joeman
This recipe is really good! I have been wondering about a recipe which sounds similar, in some ways. There is a restaurant nearby that has a dish called Shrimp with Bean curd. It has shrimp, tomato, finely chopped Chinese celery, the tofu is soft and spread out, not cubed, and there is a taste of sesame oil (not overpowering).
There are no peas or carrots or any other vegetables. It’s delicious. It uses a similar white sauce. Have you ever heard of it, Bee? Could you venture a guess how to make it happen? My family really likes it.
Thank you!
Jill
We had this dish for our dinner tonight. DELICIOUS! My husband did sprinkle a few red pepper flakes on his serving. That was our only change. Easy to make. Will make again. Thank you.
Katy
WOW, this sounds good.
I usually use organic vegetable broth instead of chicken broth, and I’m crazy for garlic so I’d likely add a bit more.
I can’t wait to try it. I wonder what I could use to make it spicy?
mary
Thank you for this recipe!! I’ve been wanting to make this for quite sometime.
Suzanne Davis via Facebook
Looks amazing!
Jonathan_Goh85
:) Thank You. I just cooked this last night and my family love it.. Mum said “Jon, this is like 生虾面 sauce” and asked me to try making it with noodle…
Leigh
This looks like the best recipe I’ve found online. I’m from Boston & we like our lobster sauce dark, so I would add the oyster sauce. I’m just not sure how much to add as I don’t want it overly salty. Any suggestions?
Rasa Malaysia
Just add a bit or to taste.
mama marsha
I’m in california, this looks like the sauce we had in L.A. chinatown in the 1970’s. my father loves this clear lobster sauce. No pork please! Can’t wait to try. Thank You
micquan
all those foods look good yummmm!!
Judy
Thank you so much for this recipe. It was delicious! it was so easy to make and I had all the ingredients. I did add a bit of fish sauce to mine. I look forward to trying more of your recipes because I don’t live in an area where I can get really good Asian food and I totally miss my Chinese mom’s cooking.
Stephanie
It looks yummy.i’m gonna try.
I
villagerfran
When I was first introduced to Asian cooking (16) my first date, Shrimp w/ Lobster Sauce was my favorite . Since then, I have tried just about everything on a menue (not at the same time) and love several, but I must admit the Shrimp w/ Lobster Sauce is still my favorite. Thanks for the recipe, love your site and try to check in every day. I can’t waite to try the Butter cake with Brownie layer soon.Keep the incrediable recipes comming.
Rasa Malaysia
Thanks for your comment VillagerFran. :)
Lisa
The link for the recipe is not working and I want to make this recipe so badly! could you please fix the link? thank you!
diane lengyel
This looks delicious! However can’t find the wine. Any online source? Thanks!
magnoliasouth
One of the best reasonably priced Chinese restaurants in Atlanta is called Canton Cooks and it’s located on Roswell Road, or was. I’m assuming it’s still there. I used to work up the street from there and we were their every Friday customers. I had two recipes that were simply divine and my absolute favs. One was their Mongolian Chicken that was loaded with grilled green onions and some sort of crunchy something. I would give anything if you could replicate that recipe! The other was their shrimp with lobster sauce. Honestly, I’ve never been able to figure out how to make either of these as good as they did. I think this recipe may be the answer.
Oh and super please on that Mongolian Chicken? Super, duper please? Oh and since I’m throwing out a request, how about a Chinese (or is it Mongolian?) sesame flat bread too? The best I’ve ever had is at Wok-N-Roll in Ventura, CA. They’re served piping hot fresh and that’s a primary reason to go there!
Sherry Binion
Thank you; this is exactly what I was looking for. Made it tonight and my husband and I both enjoyed it. Will definitely make again and love that it calls for simple, easy to find ingredients.
Rasa Malaysia
Thanks Sherry! :)
Cindy Fleenor
Your shrimp with Lobster Sauce recipe is so amazing that my family won’t even order this from Chinese restaurants any longer. They’d rather have me make it, and a lot of it! And since I make so much at one time, I was wondering if I can freeze this dish.
Rasa Malaysia
Of course, thanks for trying my shrimp with lobster sauce recipe. You can freeze it and just reheat when ready to eat. :)
red
Hello,
Love your shrimp with lobster sauce recipe, but if I have left overs and refrigerated them, how can I reheat the lobster sauce so it is glowing and silky again rather than very thick since it has been in the refrigerator.
Can you please reply as to steps needed to reheat the refrigerated lobster sauce?
Thanks……and if you can also include what is needed to reheat leftover Chinese steamed white rice?
Rasa Malaysia
Just reheat in the microwave for 1 minute for both.
K
Where is the lobster!
Rasa Malaysia
There is no lobster but this dish is called shrimp with lobster sauce!
Ann
I keep finding these recipes for “shrimp in lobster sauce” that have no lobster in them. I don’t understand.
Teesha
It’s to be served with seafood, including lobster. It doesn’t involve Lobster to make the sauce.
Rasa Malaysia
Yes, correct.
Debbie
No Lobster in “Lobster” sauce???
Rasa Malaysia
Yes, this is what the dish is called but no lobster.
Wanda
I tried this and it tasted just like the restaurant version – really good! I didn’t have the wine but it was just as good (I will make it again AND use the wine this time). I don’t think I will EVER order from another Chinese restaurant again :)
Can’t wait to try the other recipes on this site! Thanks, Bee!