Home Cooked Take Out. Shrimp Fried Rice.

Last day of class for the Summer semester means two papers still due and an early morning final exam. By 6 o’clock the kids are starving, I am pressed for time; what to do? Shrimp fried rice of course. A Chinese comfort food if there ever was one. Rasa Malaysia is my go-to Asian recipe base; of course I tweak, but Rasa delivers consistently good direction, always gorgeous photography and her recipes make even the most complicated dishes look easy. Fresh, quick and little to no fuss was just what the Professor ordered for dinner. Delicious results. Recipe after the jump.

 

Ingredients:

3 cups pre-cooked rice
2 Tablespoons fish sauce
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 Tablespoon of granulated sugar
1 teaspoon white pepper powder
1 Tablespoon fresh powdered ginger
1 large scallion, sliced 
1 lb. fresh peeled shrimp
1/2 cup frozen green peas (fresh vegetables optional: broccoli crowns, carrot strips, white onion, red pepper strips)
2 tablespoons cooking oil
2 cloves garlic (diced)
1 knob of ginger julienned
2 eggs, beaten and set aside

In a small bowl combine soy sauce with granulated sugar and fish sauce, set aside. Heat up a sautee pan with two tablespoons of oil. Add ginger strips and garlic, saute until aromatic taking care not to burn the garlic and ginger. Add the shrimp and fry until they just start to turn pink. Season with salt, pepper and powdered ginger. Continue to fry for 1-2 minutes. Add your peas and vegetables, and just a splash of oil to make sure the vegetables don’t stick. Add in the rice and mix well until all of the ingredients are incorporated. Add in soy/fish sauce mixture and continue to mix and fry the rice until coated well. Salt to taste.

Make a “well” in the middle of the pan, pushing the rice to the sides and pour the beaten eggs in the well. Leave the eggs for about 30 seconds then mix the eggs into the fried rice. Add sliced scallion, mix briefly just until the scallions wilt a bit. Remove the pan from the heat and serve.

For a vegetarian version you could always substitue tofu for shrimp; I would marinate the tofu overnight in the soy/fish sauce, slice and broil it before using it in the rice.

Serves 6

Lunch…retrospective

cold bar from the deli down the street. crispy tofu in fresh sweet chili sauce. snow pea salad. ginger wings. bet.

REAL Easy Teriyaki Marinade

//Ingredients//

2 parts tamari
1 part agave syrup (or other sweetener)
1 part rice vinegar
1 part dark sesame oil
2 TBsp ginger, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 scallion, sliced
juice  OR zest of 1 lime (zest packs more punch)

//Method//
Use as a marinade for seitan, tofu, chicken, beef, pork or veggies.

Grill on a hot surface for 10 – 15 mins per side.

Try to pause between bites, it’s soo darn good.

Crispy Tofu Teriyaki

Hoisin Glazed Veg*n Ribs. Um, yum.

Sometimes, cravings and flavors just begin to take on a life of their own. Such is the case with this recipe. I was looking for a good smoky, BBQ-esque, Asian fusion kind of dish. That, of course, did not involve meat of any kind. I’ve seen some BBQ shaved Seitan sandwich recipes, and Hoisin Tofu recipes – neither got me too excited. I had a great starter by way of a staple seitan recipe – which can be modified many different ways. But I was still missing that magic…

Last week sometime (the day before I began my Spring fast) I picked up the April 2009 issue of Real Simple Magazine. There was a cool article about Cleaning Your House Naturally that caught my attention, but lo and behold there on p. 151 was a recipe for Ginger Hoisin sauce. Needless to say I knew exactly how to take this and make it stellar! I turned an awesome vegan rib recipe into Ginger Hoisin Glazed Veg*n Ribs.

Recipe after the jump. If you make it that far. Ok. Seriously. Stop Drooling.

2 Cups vital wheat gluten
4 Teaspoons paprika
4 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
4 Teaspoons onion powder
2 Tablespoons Chinese five spice powder
4 Teaspoons garlic powder
1 1/2 cups water
4 Tablespoons Tahini
2 Tablespoons natural peanut butter
2 Teaspoons Liquid Hickory Smoke
3 Tablespoons Tamari
1 Tablespoon freshly minced ginger (optional)
2 Green onions sliced (optional)
2 Cups Ginger Hoisin Glaze

Preheat the oven to 375 and lightly grease a deep roasting pan.

Mix the first 5 ingredients together in a large bowl.

Mix the water with the nut butter, Liquid Smoke, peanut butter and soy sauce (make sure there are little to no clumps) and add it to the dry ingredients.

Stir to mix well and then knead lightly by hand in the bowl for a couple of minutes, until the dough is smooth and keeps its shape.

Roll the dough out to 1/2 inch thickness.

Cut strips out of the dough and roll them out to about a 1/4 inch thickness (dough will spring back).

Place your seitan strips into your roasting pan.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.

Then set broiler on high and broil your seitan strips for 5 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven.

Brush the Ginger Hoisin Glaze onto the seitan strips, and return to broiler for another 5 minutes or until glaze is slightly crispy.

Garnish with green onion, or freshly minced ginger.