Shrimp 'n' Peanuts

Conveniently enough for the inauguration of this blog, I cooked two dishes tonight to prevent seafood from spoiling.


This recipe comes from Ann's copy of "The Essential Asian Cookbook," which will probably crop up pretty often in here.  It's comically easy to make and calls for sambal oelek in the recipe, which provides a convenient segue to explain my cooking philosophy, shown to the right. Sambal oelek is an Indonesian chili paste and my primary dietary staple. Most of the things I cook are actually just vehicles for eating chili paste.


I had some plethora of shrimp which I didn't carefully measure. The marinade is made from ½ tsp. of ground ginger, ½ tsp. of ground coriander, ¼ tsp. of tumeric, lemon zest, juice of ½ a lemon, and ½ a tsp. of sambal oelek. Since this recipe is actually supposed to contain sambal oelek, I naturally added double this suggested amount. Once the sauce is ready, peel the shrimp.  The recipe says to peel and devein but leave the tails on. 


That is objectively stupid. You can eat shrimp veins, they're just ugly. Shrimp are ugly, removing the vein will not make them attractive. Unlike veins, shrimp tails cannot be eaten. Leaving the tails on shrimp is a chef's way of telling his diners that he hates them. It's chefese for "I hope you choke on this." /rant


I peeled off the shells and tails from the shrimp and mixed them in with the sauce, chopped green onion, and ⅓ cup of peanuts. Then you leave that mixture in the fridge for an hour to marinate.


Cooking is also pretty effortless.  Heat oil in a pan or wok (I usually use canola - less saturated than other oils) and stir fry the whole mixture for ~3 minutes until the shrimp are cooked. Serve over rice or noodles.  

These were delicious and crazy easy.  Next time I'd probably add bell peppers for a Kung Pao Shrimp analogue. I think raisins, craisins, or dates could be good as well. There's not much in the way of sauce at the end though, so if that's your thing you'll probably want to modify it.

Recipe for people who hate reading:

Some shrimp - I probably had ~ 1-1.25 pounds
4 green onions chopped
½ tsp. ground ginger
½ tsp. ground coriander
¼ tsp. tumeric
lemon zest
juice of ½ lemon
1 tsp. sambal oelek


Mix ingredients in a large bowl and marinate in the fridge for at least one hour. Stir fry in hot oil for three minutes and serve.