Want to impress your significant other but don’t have enough time? Just because this article, “A Guy’s Take on Cooking Shrimp Stir-Fry” has “shrimp” in the title, doesn’t mean the recipe to follow is going to be hard to do … it’s actually quite the opposite. The shrimp is purchased pre-cooked, the noodles are easy and unique, and the sauce can be made fairly quickly and will impress.
Total Time: You can probably do it in less than 15 minutes.
Serves: At least 2 people – with extra helpings.
Ingredients:
1/2 – 1 lb Pre-cooked Frozen Shrimp
1/2 Freezer Bag of Stir-Fry Mixed Vegetables
8 oz box of Rice Noodles
Stir-Fry Sauce:
1/2 teaspoon Corn Starch
6-8 oz Low-Sodium Soy Sauce
1 pinch of Ground Ginger
1/4 c Orange Juice
1 tablespoon Brown Sugar
1 small Garlic Clove
Directions:
Prepare your frozen, pre-cooked shrimp by allowing it to completely thaw according to the directions on the package. If you’re in a hurry because you forgot you had a date (if you did, you probably have more serious things to worry about), run under cold water. Never thaw anything using warm/hot water. I use to work at a restaurant that prohibited it – due to being a major health code violation. Something to do with bacteria, so to be safe, don’t do it. You should only need to run it under the water for a few minutes. They thaw fairly quickly.
Start preparing the rice noodles. You will be “stir-frying” these, so there is a slightly different technique on how to do this. Simply soak them for 8-10 minutes in hot water and after about 5 minutes of soaking, move onto the next step … easy so far right?
Put a few drops of oil into a deep frying pan and start frying your frozen vegetables. Flip them occasionally so they don’t singe.
I’d stay away from using straight “soy sauce” with your noodles. You will impress your partner more if you take the time to make your own. So, start preparing your sauce by mixing all of the Stir-Fry Sauce ingredients mentioned above.
When the vegetables are thawed and beginning to heat all the way through you should be able to throw in the shrimp, then sauce and rice noodles and cover with a lid. Turn the heat down to a low heat and occasionally stir while frying for 2 more minutes. You might notice that the noodles are soaking up some of the sauce, if so, you can add a little bit of water to help liquify it.
Now, you’re ready to enjoy a nice home-cooked dinner-date. Serve and don’t forget to put your napkin on your lap.
– Kyle