Hello to my dear friends, family, and all the readers of this post. Starting this month’s blog post using Shrimps as the main ingredient of the dish, a favourite food at my place. Most of the non-vegetarian eaters would agree with me that shrimps are one of the very tasty seafood varieties. They are smaller in size and taste sweet and this stir fry recipe brings out the best of the sweetness of the shrimps and fiery taste of the chillies in the sauce. My household, as well as many others in my family have a typical cooking style for seafood, mine is mostly influenced by the curry that I have grown-up eating since childhood. After marriage, the time when I started cooking, I have developed a favouritism to the Goanese style of making seafood curry, something that is relished a lot with plain, hot steamed rice.
Different culinary experiences have influenced change in the choices and taste buds of the family, something that I find is good but sometimes equally challenging, especially on days when this chef has no mood of cooking. Yes friends, you have read it correct, I too have moments when I shut down my kitchen as the chef in me wants a break 😉. But with the abundance of variety of junk food around to woo and tempt, and spoil the eating habits of the young generation, the mother in me has to dish out dishes that can appeal to the kids and make them come back for more. My cooking is my way of ensuring to the young minds that home cooked food can be innovative, appealing, restaurant style and at the same time tasty too!
This weekend was a seafood special in my kitchen, so Thursday evening I was at the Fish Market buying the choicest of fish from the fish vendor, I have always done my seafood purchasing from this one person since living in this place. The best part of buying from the same vendor is that he knows what type of fish we buy and always gives the best stock, and as you would all agree that fresh food always tastes yum. As I was driving home with my load of the three varieties of seafood I was making plans to cook something different from the shrimps. My kids are fond of shrimp fritters that I make, my modified version of the recipe I ate at my Aunt’s house first time. I had planned to make and it would have been posted here now, but something else got cooked and now that fritter recipe would be shared as a future post. (Do keep visiting the blog for the other recipes mentioned that would be posted sometime soon)
This easy stir fry recipe was super hit with my Jr. who could not stop coming back for more of it. It could be served as an appetizer or side dish with noodles, or enjoyed as the main dish of the meal like my Jr. did.
SHRIMPS STIR FRY IN SCHEZWAN SAUCE
INGREDIENTS:
Shrimps: 400 g
Onion: 1 Medium
Bell Pepper: 1 nu.
Ching’s secret Schezwan Sauce: 1 Tbsp 
Oil: 1 Tbsp
Salt: To taste.
METHOD:
- Peel, devein, and wash the shrimps clean. Pat them dry and keep in the refrigerator till we prepare other vegetables.
- Slice the onion and bell pepper.
- Heat the cooking oil of choice, I used extra virgin Olive oil. Add the sliced onion and bell pepper and sauté. Then add the shrimps. Sprinkle salt as per taste.
- Add the Ching’s secret stir fry Schezwan sauce to the pan and toss all the ingredients so that it gets evenly coated. Cook for a couple of minutes keeping the pan on high flame so that the sauce is coated well and the shrimps look cooked and bit grilled.
- Remove the pan from fire and empty the contents on to a serving plate and serve hot with a tangy spiced salad using chat masala or ketchup if you prefer a more sweeter taste.
The sauce added can be adjusted to ones preference depending on the chilli taste required in the dish. The shrimps or prawns do not require long cooking as this makes the flesh tough and that alters the taste and eating experience. Stir frying of food by mixing it with spices, or herbs, or sauces of choice adds a different dimension to the same old regular ingredient. Adding vegetables to the meat adds the crunch in the bite and also one could play around with varied tastes using different vegetables. Adding the onion and bell pepper gives out a more sweeter taste to the sweet shrimps and the chillies in the sauce make it hot at the same time.
Happy cooking and tasting this simple, yet satiating recipe. See you all soon with a new post.
ashstylegourmet's Blog 