Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Stir-fried Shrimp

I actually really enjoy all sorts of ethnic food, but rarely stray away from my stand-by's of  Mexican, Italian, and American.  I love Indian food, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Spanish, French... the list goes on and on.  And anytime I make one of these types of food, I wonder why its been so long.  Such was the case with this dish.

Shrimp are stir-fried with garlicky eggplant, scallions, and cashews, and tossed in a mixture of soy sauce, oyster sauce, sherry, sugar, oil, vinegar, and red pepper flakes.  To say we enjoyed this dinner would be an understatement.  I finished mine, Joey finished his, and Caroline was begging for seconds.  As an aside, when Caroline wants something, she thanks you in advance rather than saying please.  So she finished her bowl and held it out saying "dank dyooooo."  Unfortunately, I only made a third of the recipe, so there were no leftovers.  I was actually really surprised by how much they both enjoyed this dinner, as I didn't think either was a big fan of eggplant.

This particular recipe is from Cook's Illustrated, and in this article it also gives recipes for stir-fried shrimp with snow peas and red bell peppers and hot and sour sauce, as well as stir-fried Sicuan-Style shrimp with zucchini, bell pepper, and peanuts.  Both of those sound really great as well, so I guess I'll have to try those out too.  I mean, Caroline did "ask" after all.


One Year Ago:  Fontina-Stuffed Meatball Kabobs


Stir-Fried Shrimp with Garlicky Eggplant, Scallions, and Cashews
serves 4
adapted from Cook's Illustrated, August 2010
  • 7 medium garlic cloves, 2 minced, 5 sliced
  • 1 pound shrimp, pelled, deveined, and tails removed
  • 4 Tablespoons sesame oil, divided
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 Tbs low-sodium soy sauce
  • 2 Tbs oyster sauce
  • 2 Tbs dry sherry
  • 2 Tbs sugar
  • 1 Tbs rice wine vinegar
  • pinch of red pepper flakes
  • 2 tsp cornstarch
  • 6 large scallions, greens cut into 1-inch pieces and whites sliced thin
  • 1/2 cup unsalted cashews
  • 1 medium eggplant (about 3/4 pound), cut into 3/4-inch dice
Combine the minced garlic, 1 Tbs oil, and salt in a medium bowl with the shrimp.  Toss to combine and allow the shrimp to marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk together the soy sauce, oyster sauce, sherry, sugar, vinegar, 1 Tablespoon of sesame oil, red pepper flakes, and cornstarch in a small bowl. 

Heat 1 Tablespoon of oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat until just smoking.  Add eggplant and saute until lightly browned, 3-6 minutes.  Add the scallion greens and continue to cook until they begin to brown and the eggplant is fully tender, 1-2 minutes longer.  Transfer to a medium bowl.

Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the skillet and heat until just smoking.  Add the garlic, scallion whites and the cashews to the skillet and cook, stirring frequently, until they are just fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add the shrimp, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook, stirring constantly, until they are light pink on both sides, about 1-2 minutes.

Whisk soy sauce mixture to recombine, and add to the shrimp; return heat to high and cook until sauce is thickened and shrimp are cooked through, another 1-2 minutes.  Stir in the cooked eggplant-scallion mixture, and serve.


10 comments:

Cooking Gallery said...

I love shrimps too! Thanks for the great recipe :)!

Juls said...

This sounds amazing! Definitely on the menu for next week for me! Any hints on what I can use instead of nuts? (Partner has an allergy)

Josie said...

Juls, I would just leave them out, and then sprinkle them on top of yours if you want them... or maybe water chestnuts would work?

Hope you enjoy!
Josie

Joyti said...

ooo, those sound delicious! I really like Asian-ish food too, and that's what I eat most nights.
Hmmm, my S/O is allergic to shrimp...think this would work with scallops?

Josie said...

Hi Indie,
I think the flavors would be fine, but you would have to alter the cooking method a bit since scallops cook differently than shrimp. I think it would also be good with chicken or tofu.

Jessica said...

I am so anti-shimp...however the hubs loves them! So since you say this recipe is great...I will have to bookmark this for a special meal for him!

Unknown said...

Hey, I'm trying this tonight and I can't see where the 5 sliced garlic go...I decided to slice 3 and put them in the seasoning sauce, but I thought they might go with the sauteed onion and chestnut step...anyone have a clue?

Josie said...

Hi Kimberly,
So sorry for the mistake... the sliced garlic goes in with the cashews and scallion whites. Hope your dinner turned out well!

Cara said...

Shrimp and eggplant are two of my favorite things. And I love that this recipe has almost 2 cloves of garlic per serving :)

Eliana said...

What a great looking meal. I could go for some of this for lunch right now.

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