Recently, I’ve become enamored by Mark Bittman’s New York Times blog, Bitten, and last week, when I needed to make myself dinner, I decided to give one of his recipes a try. The attempt: chili-fried shrimp. A mixture of dried chilies, orange, scallions, and shrimp, this dish looked like it would be right up my alley  and none too hard to boot.
The results of this latest experiment after the jump…
First things first: my mise en place: thawed shrimp, five dried chilies arbol, chopped scallions, orange peel, and some freshly squeezed orange juice (note the reamer chillin’ out in the corner).
I’m already excited as this dish features bold flavors and bolder colors.
I heat up some vegetable oil in my wok (given to me by none other than NikkiSpice).
Once the oil is nice and hot, I drop in the peels and the chilies, cooking them until the chilies start to smoke, which is not long.
I then drop in the shrimp, and as per the directions, I do not touch them for two whole minutes.
Two minutes later, I’m allowed to stir the shrimp around. I also add in the scallions.
Once the scallions are soft, I then add in the orange juice and let that reduce for about 30 or 40 seconds.
It smells quite amazing.
And voila! The dish is complete. Simple, effortless, and fast.
Macro shot.
The result? Quite good. Quite good indeed! The flavors were super strong, especially the orange, which pretty much put to shame all those orange-flavored dishes at Chinese restaurant. Whereas those taste syrupy and overly sweet, this orange sauce was fresh and bright. The orange peel was also very tasty; although, there were a few slightly bitter elements thanks to some errant pith that snuck into the dish. Not a major concern. The chilies meanwhile added a nice blast of heat, but it wasn’t overpowering by any means, and certainly didn’t leave me reaching for the water. This is really a perfect, little meal that’s great on a weekday, and if you’re like me and always craving Asian food, chili-fried shrimp sufficiently scratches that itch.
Also a good Asian-influenced shrimp alternative from Mr. Bittman is his Sichuan Shrimp and Scallion Stir-Fry. I made that this week, and it was delicious. Alas, I was too lazy to take pics save for one with my phone, but I guarantee I’ll be making the dish again, and a full Adventure In Domesticity will follow. Here’s the pic:
I’m making buffalo wings tonight, but now you’ve gotten me all pissed that I’m not making some sort of Asian shrimp concoction.
You should feel ashamed.
That even looks yummy to me…and I don’t eat anything from the sea.
I’m with you there, BamaDaisy. Perhaps a chicken for shrimp substitution (or substitoosh, if you will) is in order.
I’ve gotta say, you’re really inspiring me to actually start cooking from scratch more often.
I am going to say it looks tasty but I am also of the nothing from the sea group and was thinking this would be fab for chicken. My DH does enjoy shrimp and this looks easy enough that I could make two portions one for me and one for him.
I bet it’s great with chicken.
It would be just like Orange Chicken, but fresher.
Thanks B-side, I am going to try this recipe this weekend!
what i love about asian foods is that they are always tasty and spice,~-
i find asian foods to be a bit spicy compared to italian foods~`”
i just love to much italian foods because of italian spices and juicy sauces “”
of the asian foods that i tastes, japanese foods and thai foods are the tastiest stuff `;*