Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Shrimp Fried Rice


A day before the fried rice, I made Thai shrimp curry (recipe will follow soon) and served with rice. I didn't even have a chance to take a picture of the shrimp curry before it was finished but I did have leftover rice and some extra frozen shrimp in the freezer. Thanks to Jaden Hair of Steamy Kitchen, we all enjoyed the leftover basmati rice and the shrimp again the next day without any feeling of monotony. I didn't add or alter Jaden's recipe, but for the sake of my own records I am repeating the recipe here. For the original post go to Steamy Kitchen.

I will use brown rice next time to make it even healthier, but I still don't feel bad, since I used basmati rice and it has a "medium" glycemic index (between 56 and 69),  as compared to certain other grains and products made from white flour. When you make use of the glycemic index to prepare healthy meals, it helps to keep your blood glucose levels under control.

Ingredients
8 ounces small raw shrimp, shelled and deveined
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons cooking oil, divided
3 eggs, beaten
2 stalks green onion, minced
4 cups leftover rice, grains separated well
3/4 cup frozen peas and carrots, defrosted
1 tablespoon soy sauce (use gluten-free soy sauce if you are making a gluten-free version)
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Directions:

1. In a bowl, toss the shrimp with the salt, pepper and cornstarch. Let marinate for 10 minutes at room temperature. Heat a wok or large sauté pan on high heat. When the pan is hot enough for a bead of water to instantly sizzle and evaporate, add just 1 tablespoon of the cooking oil and swirl to coat pan.

2.  Add the shrimp, quickly spreading out around the cooking surface area so that they are not overlapping. Let fry, untouched for 30 seconds. Flip over and let the other side fry for 30 seconds, or until about 80% cooked through. Remove the shrimp from the pan onto a plate, leaving as much oil in the pan as possible.

3. Turn the heat to medium, let the pan heat up again. Add the eggs, stirring in a quick motion to break up and scramble the eggs. When the eggs are almost cooked through (they should still be slightly runny in the middle), dish out of the pan into the same plate as the cooked shrimp.

4. Use paper towels to wipe the same wok or sauté pan clean and return to high heat with the remaining 1 tablespoon of cooking oil, swirling to coat. When the oil is very hot, add the green onions and fry until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Add in the rice and stir well to mix in the green onions throughout. Spread the rice all around the wok surface area and let the rice heat up, untouched until you hear the bottoms of the grains sizzle, about 1-2 minutes. Use the spatula to toss the rice, again spreading the rice out over the surface of wok.

5. Drizzle the soy sauce all around the rice and toss. Add the peas and carrots, the cooked eggs, shrimp and sesame oil, tossing to mix the rice evenly with all of the ingredients. Let everything heat back up again, until the rice grains are so hot they practically dance! Taste and add an additional 1 teaspoon of soy sauce if needed.

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