Shrimp Fried Rice

Fred rice is one of the frequent dishes I made at home. Whenever we have left over steamed rice, I would check to see what I have in the refrigerator.  Any vegetable and meat can be used alone or combine to fry with rice.  There were times I would have no food but eggs in the refrigerator, with a quick whip on eggs and soy sauce, a simple and delicious fried rice was done in 5 minutes.  Here is one of my favorite fried rice because it has all the ingredients I love. I love frying fresh green bean with eggs and I never get bore with shrimp.

Ingredients:

3 gloves garlic, minced

1 cup shrimp, peel and halves

1 cup green bean, chopped to small pieces

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup water

2 eggs, whip

1 cup white rice

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce

Directions:

1.  Heat pan with cooking oil.

2.  Stir fry shrimp until cook, scoop out and set aside.

3.  Add 1 tbsp oil and heat until it's hot. Stir fry garlic until fragrant.

4.  Add and stir fry green bean for 5 minutes, add salt and water

5.  Cover and cook for 3 minutes.

6.  Add cooked shrimp and pour in the egg, mix and cook until egg is done.

7.  Add in the steamed rice, soy sauce and oyster sauce, stir fry well until all incorporated well.

8   Sprnkle some black pepper and serve.

Tiger Prawns With Fennel 茴香蝦

I used the fennel I bought from flea market and cooked it with the prawns. I was surprised to find the fennel had a texture like celery and a very pleasant fragrant but not as strong as lemon grass.  I like snow peas with shrimps, I thought this would be a good combination.

Ingredients:

5 Basil leaves
Fennel, discard the top part and slice the root as you would do with an onion.
1 lb. Snow peas
1 chili hot pepper. sliced (optional)
Tiger prawns, cleaned and rinsed
Ginger, minced
Garlic, minced
Shredded lettuce or arugula (optional)

Mixed sauce:
1 tbsp cornstarch
4 tbsp water
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil

Directions:

1. Bring a pot of water to boil, add a little salt and blanch prawns and snow peas, drained
2. Heat up a pan with oil, saute prawns until fragrant.
3. Add minced ginger and garlic.
4. Add black pepper, hot pepper, basil, fennel and saute for 5 minutes.
5. Add cooked prawns and snow peas and cook for 2 minutes.
6. Stir in the mixed sauce and stir well.
7. Pour over shredded lettuce or arugula.

Shrimp with Sweet Walnuts

If you love eating the Shrimp with Sweet Walnuts from the Chinese restaurant, you will like this recipe. I don't usually fry food at home or use much oil in my daily cooking.  But my daughter loves this dish and it usually costs a lot but serve only with a small portion from the restaurant.  So I decided to try and make this for her.  She was so disappointed that I wasn't able to make it last night as promised.  But I made a point to devote my time to make this tonight.  It's a hit and was almost gone by the time I got to sit down for dinner. This recipe was verbally given to me by someone who used to own a couple of Chinese restaurants. I have separated the recipes into fried shrimp and sweet walnuts because they can be served individually.  But they should all serve together as one dish like this:

Fried Shrimp with Mayonnaise:

Ingredients:

1 lb. Large shrimp, shelled and deveined
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
4 egg whites
2/3 cup cornstarch
1 cup oil
1 tbsp condensed milk (or Honey)
1/4 cup mayonnaise

Directions:


1. Wash shrimp and pat dry with paper towels. Marinate shrimps with cornstarch, soy sauce and sesame oil, set aside.
2. Beat eggs well; Stir in the cornstarch until it has a consistency like Elmer's glue.
3. Heat the oil on medium high, until hot.
4. Dip the shrimp in the eggs mixture. Slowly add in the shrimp one by one into the hot oil.
5. Stir and separate the shrimp so the shrimp will not stick together when frying. Immediately flip the shrimp over. Remove the shrimp once they are turned and drain on paper towels to soak up the excess oil.
7.  In another bowl, mix the condensed milk with mayonnaise well.
8.  Toss in the shrimp to coat with the  mixed mayonnaise.
9.  Pour on top of shredded cabbage or lettuce.
10. Serve with sweet walnuts (see recipe below).

Note:
If the tail is cut too deep. the shrimp will not curl into a ball shape when fry in the oil.  The mayonnaise can be used as salad dressing for the shredded cabbage or lettuce.

Sweet Sesame Walnuts:

Ingredients:
1 cup water
1 cup oil
2/3 cup white sugar

Directions:

1 .Add water in a pot and bring to a boil.
2. Add the walnuts and bring back up to a boil or about 2 minutes.
3. Drain the water, spread out the walnuts on a cookie sheet and wipe the walnuts dry.
4. Heat up oil until hot.
5. Add the walnuts and fry for 2 minutes. Make sure to stir the walnuts so they won't burn.
6. Scoop up the walnuts with slotted spoon and add them to sugar and coat them well.
7. Add some sesame to the coated walnuts.
8, The walnuts should taste sweet and crispy.

Note:
You can add this to any salad as a topping, or eat them as snacks, you might not be able to stop yourself once you start eating it.

Jambalaya

A little history of how I became a fan of Jambalaya first. I had a chance to visit New Orleans few years ago and loved it there. That was the first time I went to the South.  I took a couple of tours to see the plantations and houses there. As the tour guide explained how the life was back then.  It reminded me of some of the scenes from the movie "Gone with the Wind".  I could see and feel that era as I walked through the old houses. The kitchen, the rooms, the beds were just what I saw in the movie.

I was also able to enjoy different styles of the popular jazz musics there.  Both traditional and contemporary live jazz musics can be heard everywhere while dining at the restaurants on Bourbon Street and dinner cruise ship.  I experienced the mini Mardi Gras on Bourbon Street. I saw and crossed the famous Mississippi River which I had heard about it since I was a little kid.  The South is just very different from the West coast where I live, and that was an unforgettable trip for me.

The food I tried at the restaurants were the famous Creole and Cajun.  They are just excellent but honestly expensive to eat everyday. The restaurant owned by Emeril Lagasse was located in the French Quarter.  Unfortunately we arrived late afternoon from the airport and the earliest reservation we could get was 10:00pm. However, I was able to try some of the famous food from the South, like seafood gumbo, crocodile soup, crawfish etouffee, rice pudding,etc. The Jambalaya was also one of the dishes I tried there.  I love the food from the South very much that I even got a couple of recipe books from the local shops. 

I have a habit of trying to mimic the food I ate from traveling and learned to cook it  for my kids.  That's the way I introduced new food to my kids.  We all love to eat Jambalaya so much that whenever we go to Elephant Bar, that's a must order item from the menu. I started to look for the Jambalaya recipe online.  This recipe is from one of Rachel Ray's cooking show. It is so delicious that it has become my daughter's "must post recipe" onto the blog.   If you love Jambalaya, I can assure you that you will not be disappointed with this recipe.

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp cooking oil
1 Tbsp Butter
1 lb. Chicken,cut to pieces
3/4 lb. Sausage,diced
1 Medium onion, diced
2 Ribs Celery,diced
1 Bell Pepper,diced
1 Bay leaf, diced
Hot Sauce
2 to 3 Tbsp All purpose flour
1 can (14 oz.) diced tomatoes in juice
1 can (14 oz.) Chicken Broth
1 tsp Cumin
1 round tsp. Dried Chili powder
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 lb. Medium Shrimps
2 Cups rice, cooked

Optional ingredients:
Salt and Pepper
Chopped Scallions, for garnish
Fresh Thyme, chopped

Directions:

1. Heat the pan with oil, add butter and chicken, saute for 3 minutes.
2. Add the diced sausage and saute for 2 minutes.
3. Add onion,celery, bell pepper,bay leaf and hot sauce, saute another 5 minutes.
4. Pour in all purpose flour stir and cook for 1 minute.
5. Add diced tomatoes, chicken broth,cumin,chili powder, worcestershire sauce and bring up to a boil.
6. Add the shrimps and simmer for 5 minutes.
7. Serve over cooked rice.
8. Add or decorate with any optional ingredients if desire.