Shrimp

So, when I went on my big grocery trip Wednesday afternoon, I found some wild caught shrimp on sale. To some, it might seem gross to buy frozen or previously frozen food items on sale. I’m cool with it. My stomach can handle anything! Besides, I’m pretty sure grocery stores won’t make these items available if they have already gone bad and could give you food poisoning.

It is so sad how ridiculously expensive seafood is in Eastern Washington especially since it’s not even fresh. Because of that, I rarely buy it. I miss the fresh seafood of my childhood back home in the beautiful Philippine islands. Nothing beats fresh right out of the ocean!

Anyhoo, I got my hands on the pathetic, previously frozen shrimp on sale and vowed to give it an extraordinary make-over.

At first, I planned on making shrimp penne with Calvados… but someone finished the special apple

brandy off behind my back. Sneaky! What then? Essentials of Asian Cooking by Williams-Sonoma to the rescue! Fried Rice with Pork and Shrimp sounds good, especially because the recipe requires cold, cooked rice, which we happen to have left over from dinner a few nights ago. I didn’t add the pork because that required extra work and I thought it would be too heavy. The rice we had left was not as much as what the recipe required, so I adjusted the other ingredients.

Please trust me when I say that this is something you should try. It is so good! This dish is an awesome combination of specially seasoned rice with chunks of nicely flavored shrimp and bursts of sweetness from the peas. We ate the whole thing and I so wish there was more!     

Here is my version of the recipe…

Fried Rice with Shrimp (Makes 2 servings)
(adapted from Williams-Sonoma, Essentials of Asian Cooking)

2 tbsp olive oil

¼ lb medium shrimp (prawns), peeled, deveined, and chopped
juice from 1/4 wedge of a small lemon 
2 cloves garlic, crushed in a garlic press
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, crushed in a garlic press
3 stalks green onions, minced
1 tsp rice vinegar

3 tbsp chicken broth

1 tbsp soy sauce
¼ tsp sugar
¼ freshly ground pepper

½ tbsp olive oil

2 cups cold, cooked long-grain rice
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2/3 cup fresh or frozen sweet peas


Peel, devein, and chop shrimp. Squeeze the juice from the lemon wedge over the shrimp and toss.  

In a large pan, warm 2 tablespoons of the oil over high heat. Add the shrimp until it turns a light orange, about 1 minute. Add the garlic, ginger, and green onions and stir fry for another minute. Pour in the rice vinegar, stir for about 30 seconds, and transfer to a bowl.

In a small bowl, stir together the chicken broth, soy sauce, sugar, and pepper.

Coat the same pan with ½ tablespoon olive oil and heat it up. Add the rice and stir-fry until it gets just hot enough, about 3 minutes. Stir in the egg for about 1 minute or until it is not runny anymore. Add the cooked shrimp and the peas into the pan, and stir for another minute. Add the broth mixture and stir-fry for about 3 minutes until it looks like all the liquid is absorbed.

Turn off the heat and and serve hot.  

Since the shrimp that I bought was more than what was required, I decided to turn the other half of it into this…

This was my attempt at breaded shrimp. DFJ and I were hungry, so I didn’t have time to find a good recipe or make it fancy. It doesn’t look as gorgeous, but it was pretty darn good. The batter consisted of an egg, 1 tablespoon of cornstarch, salt and pepper, and 4 tablespoons of Italian style bread crumbs. Panko would have been awesome, but it was MIA in the pantry. Instead of coating the shrimp pieces with the egg batter and then rolling it on the breadcrumbs, I tossed everything together and poured it on a sizzling hot nonstick pan covered in canola oil. Pardon me for being unclassy. When the batter turned a nice golden brown, I squeezed fresh lemon juice over it to counter the greasiness. We dipped the battered shrimp in soy sauce with fresh lemon juice.

You will love the fried rice with shrimp, trust me!