For the past several weeks we’ve been on somewhat of a stir fry kick; like many of you now and again we get stuck on a particular cuisine or preparation method and ride that horse for a few weeks just to change up the routine and menu.
My wife in particular has been craving some of the traditional Americanized Chinese food that we’ve eaten over the years; recently she’s been pestering me to craft a dish akin to a wonderful Kung Pao Shrimp we used to eat at a now defunct eatery in Salt Lake City back in the day.
It was spicy but not too hot, incredibly well balanced with the classic Chinkiang vinegar flavor followed by a just a hint of sweetness, and packed with tasty cashews and tender shrimp.
After a bit of trial and error, and digging around a bit, we’ve settled on this recipe using an incredibly easy homemade Kung Pao sauce (you can as always control the quality of your ingredients and cut back on the typical sugar/sweetener load), though a commercially prepared sauce could work in a pinch (read those ingredients!). By the way, I’ll post the recipe for the Kung Pao sauce down the road a few weeks from now…
With a minimum of prep, you can have this dish ready for the table in about twenty minutes, along with a big pile of steamed broccoli florets just like you’d receive in a classic restaurant setting.
As tempting as it is to throw in several handfuls of other vegetables, every time I’ve done that we (my wife especially) feel that the overall flavor impact of the dish is diminished by too many competing flavors. And it’s great over a spoonful of garlic cauliflower rice….
1 pound shrimp, prepped (peeled and deveined)
1 T Shaoxing wine
1 T cornstarch
1 tsp avocado oil
¼ t good salt
1 T avocado oil
6 green onions, white and green parts, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 bell pepper, ¾-inch dice
1/3 cup (perhaps a T or two more) homemade Kung Pao sauce
1/3 cup roasted cashews or peanuts
Combine the prepped shrimp, Shaoxing wine, cornstarch, and the salt; set aside for 10 minutes. Prep the vegetables and set aside.
Heat the oil in a large flat skillet until just smoking; add the shrimp in a single layer and cook for thirty seconds undisturbed, then stir occasionally for the next three minutes or so until the shrimp are just opaque.
Add the green onions and bell pepper, stirring to combine and heat the vegetables thoroughly. Now add the Kung Pao sauce, stirring to coat everything in the pan evenly.
Add the cashews (or peanuts), stir to distribute evenly, the remove from the heat and serve immediately.
Enjoy.
Leave a Reply