Sesame Shrimp

I made this Sesame Shrimp dish in April, but I never got the chance to post the recipe.  The recipe is modified from dashrecipe.com and is very easy to pull together for an quick dinner option.

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Sesame Shrimp

Prep time: 15 mins  Cook time: 15 mins

Serves: 4

Ingredients

1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon seasoned rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon cooking oil (canola or vegetable)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 package mushroom, sliced (6 – 8 ounces or any variety)
2 small zucchini, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 carrot, sliced diagonally 1/4 inch thick
1 1/2 lbs shelled and deveined shrimp
2 scallion, chopped
1 tablespoon crushed sesame seeds

Directions

In a small bowl, whisk soy sauce, vinegar and sesame oil

In a large wok, place 1 tablespoon cooking oil and garlic. Turn heat on high and quickly stir-fry the carrots, zucchini and mushrooms until they start becoming tender. Add the shrimp stir-fry until the shrimp are cooked. Add the scallions and soy sauce mixture and toss until throughly mixed. Sprinkle sesame seed for garnish. Serve with steamed rice.

Pancit Bihon (Filipino Noodles with Rice Sticks) with Shrimp

I love pancit. Love, love, love it.  Currently, *gasp* dare I say it, I love it more than jap chae.

The noodles are thinner and lighter and the flavor is more delicate. Actually a dangerous combination because I eat way too much of it before I realize I ate way too much of it.

I’ve been wanting to make pancit for years. Years! Now that I finally made it, I’m slightly embarrassed about how long it took me to make them.  They are so easy to make.  Less time-consuming then jap chae.

I’ve been looking for the perfect recipe to try. Pancit, like most dishes have 1000 recipe variations on the internet. Which one to pick?

Well, if you can believe it, I finally found the recipe (modified slightly) I like on the back of the Excellent brand rice stick noodle package. There are many different brands, but Excellent brand is highly recommended by Filipinos acquaintances.

I bought the 16 ounce package and it was a fortuitous mistake. I had enough for 3 meals, two for us, one for a friend’s sister who’s recovering from surgery. I would say 16 ounce package makes enough to serve 8 – 10 people.

Traditional pancit contains chicken and pork, but I think pancit marries well with shrimp. Plus, I’m not a fan of pork and I’m starting to get tired of chicken. I also tried to make this recipe vegan adaptable, so instead of using chicken broth, I used water as the liquid. I did use oyster sauce in combination with soy sauce, but the oyster sauce could be left out in addition to the shrimp to make this a completely vegan/vegetarian dish.

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Pancit Bihon with Shrimp

Serves: 8 – 10

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time 30 mins

*If you’re not a fan of oyster sauce, use fish sauce. If you’re not a fan of both, try the vegan option and use just soy sauce. For vegan option, leave out fish/oyster sauce and shrimp. Chicken can be added as well. Boil chicken thighs or breast and shred them before adding them to the noodles.

Ingredients

2 tablespoon canola oil, divided
1 small sweet onion, julienned
3 carrots, julienned
3 celery stalks, thinly sliced diagonally
3 cloves garlic, minced 1 small head of cabbage, shredded
1 pound medium-sized shrimp, shelled and de-veined, lightly seasoned with salt and pepper
5 cups water
8 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 16-ounce package Filipino brand rice sticks (Excellent brand recommended)
salt and pepper to taste

Direction

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a wok or a large saute pan on high heat and swirl to coat. When pan is hot, stir-fry onion, carrots and celery until just softened, about 1 minute. Add garlic and cabbage and fry until the cabbage is cooked down and tender. This could take up to 10 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste and remove the vegetables to a bowl and set aside.

Add the remaining oil, swirl to coat and fry the shrimp until pink and remove from heat immediately and set aside.

Add 5 cups of water to the wok with the soy sauce and oyster sauce and bring to boil. Lower heat to simmer and add the rice sticks directly into the wok. Stir gently until noodles start to soften and absorb the liquid. The recipe of the package says to remove the noodles when soft from the liquid, but I found that by the time the noodles were cook, they had absorbed all the liquid.

Add the vegetables and shrimp back to the wok. Gently mix so as not not break up the noodles.  Salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately or at room temperature. If refrigerated, the noodles need to be reheated.

Thank You #88 Tofu Spinach Miso Soup (Recipe Included)

Tofu Spinach Miso Soup used to be a staple, especially during Lent season, but I haven’t made it recently.  I have no idea why since it’s easy to make, yummy and popular with the kiddo.

Today, I’m grateful that Soso reminded me about the soup.  It made for an easy dinner prep!

There’s not much to the recipe, just some onions, garlic, spinach, water, tofu and miso. I generally use a 10 ounce bag of spinach, chopped roughly. The pot looks full here.

After a few minutes, the spinach shrinks down to a more manageable size.

Here’s the finished soup. Not a great photo because there was a lot of steam rising.

We eat it Korean style, with steamed rice in the soup. Some kkakduggi (radish) kimchi would have been perfect, but alas, I had none left.

By the way, if you’re not familiar with miso paste, the choices at an Asian grocery store can be overwhelming.  There’s white paste, red and mixed paste.  Then, there are various brands.  Below is the photo of the miso paste I like.  Marukome brand red paste with dashi already in the paste.  I’ve tried to experiment, got some horrid tasting miso and I’ve been scared ever since to try anything new.  Also, I like how this miso tastes in soups and for marinades.

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Tofu Spinach Miso Soup

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 20 mins

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter, optional
1 medium-sized sweet onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 10-ounce bag spinach or equivalent fresh spinach, chopped roughly
6 cups water
1 block firm tofu, cubed
3 – 4 tablespoons miso paste, to taste
1 stalks scallion (green onions), chopped for garnish

Directions

In a large pot, heat olive oil and butter on medium-high heat. Saute onions until they start to soften. Add garlic and sauté another minute. Add the chopped spinach and stir until the spinach shrinks down. Add the water and cubed tofu and bring to boil.

In a medium bowl, add miso paste and 1/2 cup of the hot water from the pot. Whisk with fork until the miso is dissolved. Pour the miso mixture into the pot and stir gently. Add chopped scallion and serve immediately.