Due to my dislike of lunch packing, I never end up packing a big lunch. And so I'm always hungry when I get home around 3:00.
But then I'm presented with another problem, which is that I never have much snack food around the place. It's for the best, but sometimes I want to eat something quickly, which means I have to make something quickly.
Now, sometimes I know exactly where I get food ideas. Just reading the mention of some food in a book makes me in the mood for it. But today I was in the mood for fried shrimp, and I'm not exactly sure why. Maybe it was the nearly empty can of coconut milk in my fridge, begging for a use. In any case, I decided to give it a go.
There are certain foods that just scream "restaurant food," and I'd say fried shrimp is one of them. I've never had fried shrimp at someone's house, but it is the ubiquitous seafood appetizer on countless menus. I don't think of myself as a restaurant food cook, but it happened today. A bit of snooping around at epicurious.com, and I developed a passable fried shrimp with ingredients I had on hand. And quickly, too. Nice.
Here's the batter I used:
3 T flour
2 tsp. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. brown sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp. red Thai curry paste
3 T beer (you can drink the rest!)
Put first four ingredients in a bowl and use a whisk to combine. Measure out the beer and whisk in red curry paste. Whisk beer into dry ingredients to form a batter. Small quantities, but enough batter to coat nine shrimp, which was a good serving for one.
Heat oil in a wok to almost point of smoking, then turn down heat to medium-low.
Dredge shrimp in cornstarch, dip in batter, and fry a few at a time, for about two minutes, until golden brown.
Serve shrimp with a sauce made with coconut milk, a little lime, a little cardamom, a little chili, and little salt, a little sugar.
Quick. Easy. Delicious.
1 comment:
You're amazing! Always fabulous food.
Post a Comment