Thursday, September 30, 2010

Dinner in 10min

I love Chinese food for just this reason. It cooks in minutes.
Sure, there are dishes in the repertoire that require hours of cooking, but for the most part, Chinese cooking is about wielding a strong fire and flash cooking things in minutes or seconds.

I stopped by an Asian grocery store on my way home from work last night and picked up some beautifully peeled and deveined shrimp.

So I got home, dropped my bags and took a quick shower. (it's a pet peeve of mine. I love that fresh feeling)
Came out and laid out all the ingredients I needed.

Shrimp
Mushrooms
Scallions
Ginger
Chicken stock
Chinese cooking wine
Soy sauce
And my reserved homemade Chili puree

Shrimp literally takes 2 minutes to cook, so you know that's one of the last things you add into the sautee pan.

Throw in the aromatics first. Your scallions, ginger, and mushrooms. Hit it with a little bit if wine and soy sauce for flavor. Dump the shrimps while the pan is super hot and stir your shrimp till they start turning bright pink. Add enough chicken stock so the you are able to properly deglaze the pan and also soupy enough for you to ladle some sauce on to your rice.
Taste a shrimp, or two, or three and when they are firm and perfectly shrimp crunchy, plate and serve immediately. I like to jazz it up with some pre-made chili sauce.

Luckily, I also have one of those rice cookers with a built in timer, so I can walk into my apt and have perfectly cooked rice waiting for me. This was MONEY last night.

10 min in the kitchen and voilà, dinner.

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