ketchup shrimp

i'm not sure if there's anything quite like cooking for oneself. it's pretty satisfying to just create something, but then when it comes time to eat.. meh. it's a little boring.

my brother came down this weekend, and since he seems to like food tons more than me, there was a preponderence of it sitting around. he cooked up some chicken, potatoes, and onions with coconut milk in a dish we call "Portugese chicken" at home. it's like a light curry chicken without the curry. anyhoo, long story short, he went back up to LA and i'm left with a fridge full of food including some raw flank steak that needs to get cooked SOON and over a lb of shrimp. not wanting to waste fresh shrimp, i froze half and made the other half into "ketchup shrimp". i have no idea what kind of cuisine it is, but it's probably one of those home-cookin' conglomerations. it's probably in the top 5 of my favorite dishes--at least the way my mom makes it. i'll ask her for the recipe some day. until then, here's a variation of it:



.5 lb raw shrimp
couple tbsp rice wine
tsp sugar
few cloves of garlic smushed or diced
.5 onion diced
1-2 tsp oil
a sprig of geen onions cut into cm lengths on the diagonal
2-3 tbsp ketchup (lee kam kee brand--it taste a bit different from the heinz. sweeter and more spices)
salt to taste

rinsed the shrimp. sometimes i leave the heads and shells on b/c i'm lazy and the legs are fun to eat and sucking on the brains is tasty). this time, i shelled and beheaded them b/c they absorb more flavor that way. marinated them in the rice wine while prepared the garlic and onions. i poured a lil oil into the pan and tossed in the garlic and onions. when they started to get kind of aromatic, ~.5 a min later, i tossed in the shrimp and wine and stirred them around 'cause they cook rather fast. put in a pinch of salt. dumped in the green onions. when the shrimp just started to turn pink all over, i reduced the heat from med-hi to low and poured in the ketchup. not sure how long it took for that.. but it couldn't have been more than a min or two. shrimp cooks real fast if you don't want it to be tough. stirred around. just for a short while then put on a plate and garnished with some green onion.

this came out a bit different from my mom's version. i think she adds a bit of vinegar and uses different proportions. no onions too. they're a mess if the shells are still on. it's also quite a bit more saucy.. mm.. tasty sauce on rice..