Chinese Stir-Fried Shrimp with Green Peas (Ch'ing Tow Hsia Jen)

A quick and simple Chinese recipe for the busy week nights. It's easy when you have the ingredients in hand and all you really need to do is to prep the ingredients. Cleaning the shrimp can be time consuming. It's a dirty job but somebody's gotta do it. You have to peel off the shell, slice the back open and de-vein the black goop from the shrimp. Then you rinse and set it aside in a bowl. Repeat until you finish with all the shrimp. If I'm lucky, sometimes the market sells the shrimp already peeled. If you hate green peas, you can substitute with other vegetables like snow peas or sliced carrots.


Serves 6

Ingredients

1/2 lb. raw, shelled shrimp
1 1/2 tbs oil
1 green onion, cut into small slices
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 cup green peas, frozen

Sauce #1
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cooking wine
1/3 egg white
3/4 tsp cornstarch

Sauce #2
1/3 tsp each: cooking wine, salt, sesame oil
dash of pepper
1 tsp cornstarch
2 tbs water

Directions:

1. Rinse and devein the shrimp. Place the shrimp in a bowl and mix it with Sauce #1 in order listed. Mix well after each addition. Set aside.
2. Mix Sauce #2 in a bowl. Set it aside for later use.
3. Heat the wok or large saute pan with 1 tbs oil. Fry the shrimp over medium heat until almost cooked. Remove the shrimp and place in a plate.
4. Reheat the work or saute pan with the remaining oil. Stir-fry the green onion and garlic until fragrant. Add the frozen green peas, stir for a minute. Add the shrimp and Sauce # 2 to the pan and stir another minute or two. Mix well and transfer to a serving platter. Serve with Jasmine rice.

Stir-fry Green Beans

This Asian-style green bean has loads of flavor packed with a punch. A hint of nutty and spicy flavor. Another quick and simple recipe I have created. I didn't measure my ingredients as I tend to eye-ball it whenever I create my own Asian recipes. Please use it as a guideline. You can find a jar of "Chili Soy Bean Paste" in any Asian specialty markets.


Serves 4

Ingredients

1 lb green beans, trimmed and cut in half
1/2 tsp cooking oil
3 cloves of garlic, mined
1 1/2 tbs Chili soy bean paste
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp soy sauce
black pepper, few dashes


Directions

1. Wash the green beans, trim and cut in desirable length. In a pot of boiling water, cook the green beans for 3 minutes. Drain them and rinse in cold water to stop the green beans from further cooking. It will help retain their green color and keep the "crunch".
2. In a sauté pan or wok, add cooking oil and mince garlic. Cook for about 3 minutes. Add the green beans, chili soy bean paste, sugar, soy sauce and black pepper. Stir fry for about 2 minutes.
3. Serve it as a side dish. This can be served hot or cold. You can eat it alone with jasmine rice.