Today, I'm going to teach you how to make shrimp fried rice. This dish was inspired by my lovely mother-in-law, who is an awesome cook. One morning she made us a very simple rice dish and I had to ask her what she had put in it. I apologize in advance as I don't usually measure my cooking so please adjust according to your taste buds. I generally like to yield on the less saltier side--trust me, it's better for your health! Without further ado, let's get started!
Ingredients
- 25 medium frozen deveined raw shrimp (about 3 inches big), peel and remove shells*
- 3 cups of cooked, refridgerated day-old rice (best with jasmine or medium grain)
- 8 shiitake mushrooms, fresh or dried; if dried, rehydrate with cold water for 1 hour before dicing
- 1 medium onion, diced (yellow or red)
- 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp ginger, grated
- 4 tbsp fresh flat parley, finely chopped (use less or omit if desired)
- 4 green onions, chopped
- 2 tsp granulated sugar
- cooking oil of your choice (I used vegetable oil)
- 2 tbsp Pearl River Bridge** LIGHT soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Pearl River Bridge DARK soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Kerrygold salted butter
- 1 tbsp Kadoya pure sesame oil
- 1 tsp white pepper
- salt and black pepper to taste
- optional--1/2 cup frozen classic mixed vegetables
Yields 2-3 servings
*To make it vegetarian friendly, simply omit the shrimp and add the frozen mixed vegetables.
**Brand substitution may alter taste so try to get the brands I mentioned, especially the soy sauce.
Directions
1. Defrost raw shrimp in a huge bowl with cold tap water for an hour or until defrosted. Then wash and remove shells and tails.
2. Soak shittake mushrooms if using dried ones. If fresh, skip soaking and clean and dice mushrooms.
3. Prepare the onions, garlic, ginger, mushrooms, parsley, and green onions.
4. Heat non-stick pan with butter until melted then add shrimp, sprinkle a little salt and pepper and cook for 1-2 minutes or until done then remove from pan and set aside. When it's very opaque white, it means it's overcooked. I like it when it's slightly translucent so it's tender--plus we will throw everything in the pan to mix at the end. As you can see in the picture, it still needs to cook a little longer.
5. Add a little bit of cooking oil and cook the shiitake mushrooms for about 3 minutes or until brown. Lightly add salt and pepper. Remove from pan and put it together with the shrimp.
6. Add more oil to pan and cook onions, garlic, and ginger until aromatic, about 2-3 minutes. Then add sugar, light salt and pepper and mix well. Remove from pan and put in the same bowl with the shrimp and mushrooms.
7. Cook the rice until it's no longer clumpy. Add oil if needed. Then add both dark and light soy sauce. Mix well and taste. The soy sauce makes the rice a little sticky, almost like sweet rice texture.
8. Make a well in the center, add some oil and cook the green onions. Mix together with rice.
9. Return everything back in the pan and add the rest of the ingredients (parsley, sesame oil and white pepper). Mix well and serve.
I apologize for the bad quality photos as they were screenshots from my cell phone videos.
If you ever try this dish, or any of my other dishes, please let me know how they came out.
Cheers,
Irene
