I figured I'd do a quick shrimp dish with the chilis I bought yesterday at the farmer's market. I put rice on to boil, and then made up a recipe mostly on the fly, based on some of the recipes I looked at before dinner. My ingredients:
- Six decent sized shrimp
- Three cloves garlic, sliced
- Three of the tiny Hawaiian chilis (in hindsight, this was my mistake)
- The white bit of four green onions chopped into inch long slices
- An anchovy (a lot of recipes called for nam pla, which I don't have. I figured this would add some umami)
- Soy sauce
- Rice wine vinegar
- Dash of tomato paste
- Fresh basil
- The greens of the green onions, similarly chopped
- Half a lime
I started by frying the garlic, chilis and onions in some oil, and once they looked like they were cooked through, I added the shrimp and let them cook on the first side. When it was time to flip, I added everything for the sauce (ingredients down to the basil), mixed it around, and then covered to let the shrimp steam in the sauce. A few minutes later, I uncovered, shook the pan to flip the shrimp in the sauce, and then added the basil and onion greens to warm without cooking down into mushiness. I dumped everything over my rice, and then added the lime so I could add some juice as desired.
Clearly, three of those tiny little peppers was a mistake. The flavor of the sauce was reasonably good, but the heat level was just way too high. I think if I try this again, it'll only be one pepper. I also think some fresh ginger sliced into sticks and added to the pan with the garlic would be a good addition. I added a bit of ginger powder (since I have that all the time), but it didn't really add anything to the taste, I don't think.
I finished dinner with the remaining slice of mozzarella. It was the only thing I could think of that could help take the fire away from my mouth and lips. It was largely effective, as I no longer feel like my face is going to burst into flames.
Ginger powder is never a replacement for fresh ginger. Just like fresh ginger is never a replacement for ginger powder.
ReplyDeleteI wrap chunks of ginger in plastic and freeze quickly. Without defrosting, I grate the ginger. This lets me keep ginger months without any real degradation. Sliced and julienne ginger don't work as well post freeze.
One thing I would try is to lightly flour the shrimp with cornstarch. Fry in oil, and then top with your sauce. It should hold the sauce a little better.
ReplyDeleteAlso, nam pla or nuoc mam should stay good for quite a long time consider how much salt is in it. If you look hard, you'll find a reasonably sized bottle.
It's mostly just an issue of buying things. I could have gone out and bought both, but was just too lazy to do so.
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