Shrimp and Vegetable

This is how my favorite Chinese restaurant makes their shrimp and vegetable entre.

Ingredients:

• canola oil
• kosher salt
• one yellow onion cut in half and sliced into rings.

• two stalks of celery cut on the diagonal, top to bottom about a 1/4 inch each slice.
• two carrots cut in about 1 inch chunks diagonally, wavy sliced on two opposite sides and then sliced thin on the wavy side.

• 1 1/2 cup broccoli, chopped into bite-size pieces.
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• one Italian green squash, cut in half lengthwise and then sliced into quarter-inch slices.

• one head of baby bok choy sliced across into one-inch chunks.
• three cloves of garlic, minced
• 8-10 large shrimp, cleaned (deveined) and tail off.

Sometimes, I just prepare all of the vegetables and cook them up without any shrimp at all and it still tastes good with all of the different kinds of vegetables and served with a little hoisen sauce on top.

If you noticed, the recipe ingredients are grouped together in four sections. That's because that is the order you cook them in and then take them out of the pan. You're cooking wok style in a hot pan.

Add canola oil to a pan and heat it up. Add chopped onion and kosher salt and cook until almost translucent. Remove from pan.

Add canola oil and carrots and celery. Cook (longer than the onion) until tender-crisp and remove from pan. 

Add canola oil and broccoli and the sliced Italian squash. Again, cook until tender-crisp (the broccoli with turn bright green) and then add the rest of the cook vegetables back into the pan and stir. Add the chopped baby bok choy and shrimp on top of the hot vegetables (do not stir at this point) and cover to steam cook the rest of the way for a few minutes otherwise, the shrimp will get tough.

Beef Hunan

3 cups cooked linguine
1 t-bone steak
(seasoned with garlic pepper, kosher salt and fresh ground pepper)
1/2 sliced red bell pepper
mirin
1/2 bag of cooked and shelled edamame
1/2 cup cooked broccoli

Boil enough linguine to make three cups and fry up seasoned steak until medium. Plate to rest. Cook red bell pepper in same pan as steak and deglaze with mirin.
Microwave edamame for 4 minutes and remove shells. Before the linguine is done, blanch broccoli is same pot. Drain. Cut steak into thin strips.

Makes 4 servings.

Chinese Sweet and Sour Sauce

Ingredients:

* 1/3 cup white or rice vinegar (Note: rice vinegar gives better results)
* 4 tablespoons brown sugar
* 1 tablespoon ketchup
* 1 teaspoon soy sauce
* 2 teaspoons cornstarch mixed with 4 teaspoons water

Preparation:

Mix the vinegar, brown sugar, ketchup, and soy sauce together and bring to a boil in a small pot. Mix together the cornstarch and water, add to the other ingredients and stir to thicken.

Cook Time: 5 minutes Yield: about 1/2 cup

Note: If desired, you can add 1 green pepper, cut into chunks, and pineapple chunks as desired after adding the cornstarch. For a thicker sauce, increase the cornstarch to 4 teaspoons while keeping the water constant.

Recipe from About.com

Pork and Mushroom Shumai

1/2 pound ground pork
1/4 cup chopped mushrooms
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon rice or white wine
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
1 package wonton wrappers, thin, corners cut off
Parchment paper sprayed with cooking spray

Place parchment in the bottom of a steamer and spray lightly with cooking spray. To make filling, combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Season with salt and pepper. Place one teaspoonfull of meat mixture onto prepared wonton wrapper and form shumai in your hand to be open on the top. Place shumai on prepared parchment and steam for 10 minutes.