This text and recipe is posted with permission from Curry & Kimchi: Flavor Secrets for Creating 70 Asian-Inspired Recipes at Home by Unmi Abkin & Roger Taylor of Coco & The Cellar Bar.
The ingredients in this dish are all pretty typical for a Chinese stir-fry, but we wanted to avoid the muddiness of flavor and presentation that can result from tossing a whole bunch of stuff together with some soy sauce. This dish is much crisper and cleaner than a typical stir-fry and really pops when you set it in front of someone.
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients:
1 pound Gulf shrimp (see note), peeled and cleaned
1 tablespoon Ground Coriander
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons neutral cooking oil
10 ounces wide rice noodles*
1 cup Chow Fun Sauce, divided
6 teaspoons Szechuan Oil, divided
2 cups pea shoots, divided
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 200 F. Place a large pot of water over high heat. Toss the shrimp, coriander and salt in a large bowl while the water heats.
Heat a large skillet over high heat and add the cooking oil. Add the shrimp when you see the first wisps of smoke starting to rise from the pan. Cook, tossing frequently, until shrimp are just cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove shrimp to an ovenproof platter, cover lightly with aluminum foil, and place in the oven to keep warm.
Add the rice noodles to the water when it is boiling. Cook noodles according to package instructions and drain well. Divide the noodles and the shrimp among four bowls. Add to each bowl 1/4 cup Chow Fun Sauce, 2 teaspoons Szechuan Oil and 1/2 cup pea shoots.
Note: There are plenty of shrimp on the market from dubious sources, so we look for Gulf shrimp. You can always start a dialogue with your fishmonger to help you source healthy and sustainable shrimp.
*From Erica: I was not able to find wide rice noodles, so I substituted thin ones, which worked great.
Unmi Abkin and Roger Taylor are the co-owners and chefs at the popular Easthampton, Massachusetts-based restaurant Coco and The Cellar Bar. Unmi Abkin is a four-time semifinalist for the James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Northeast. She attended the California Culinary Academy and worked at Chez Panisse and Boulevard before opening Coco. Roger Taylor spent his childhood in professional kitchens and began working in restaurants at the age of 15. He is a graduate of the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco.
Comments will be approved before showing up.
