Asian Grilled Shrimp

ASIAN GRILLED SHRIMP

As you all know, I'm doing everything I can to keep from turning on my oven. And I've been doing a pretty darn good job of it too! The weather has actually stayed below 100degs the past few days, and it hasn't been too bad in the house. But I really enjoy getting out of my comfort of the oven and using other methods and learning about those.

This is such a wonderful, tasty meal. And I had everything on hand, which made it even nicer.

• Soy sauce
• honey
• oil
• garlic powder
• sesame oil
• ground ginger
• orange juice
  

Combine everything into a small bowl.

Mix it up well. You might have to let it sit for a few minutes, stirring it occasionally, to help get the honey incorporated into everything. You don't want it to be a blob at the bottom of your bowl.

Pour it over your shrimp (that's already deveined and shelled). Let it sit for about an hour or so. Shake it up occasionally to help everyone have a share of the marinade.

Thread them onto your kabob sticks. This is a mighty fine, messy task. Wipe your space down good when you're done! they drip everywhere.

Then grill them up! Use about medium heat, for just a few minutes on each side. Shrimp cooks fast, remember!


ASIAN GRILLED SHRIMP

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 3 Tbsp orange juice
• 2 Tbsp honey
• 1 Tbsp oil
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• dash of salt and pepper
• about 1 lb shrimp, shelled and deveined

Mix all the ingredients together (except shrimp) making sure the honey is well mixed into everything. Pour over shrimp in a ziplock baggie, and shake well. Let sit for about an hour, mixing everything up occasionally. Thread shrimp onto your skewers, and grill on each side for 2-3 minutes over medium heat. Remember, shrimp cooks fast!

(Linked up at: Eat at Home, )

Sushi--a Krystal Roll

SUSHI--A Krystal Roll and TEMPURA

Sometimes I get in the mood for Japanese food. Ok, OFTEN times I'm in the mood for Japanese food. And oftentimes we're too poor to go out to eat it. Which is one of the reasons we have Gyoza a lot, and I almost always have a bag full in my freezer.

Finally though, I broke down and made my own sushi. I had plans of making something authentic, but well, my fridge, in it's infinite goodness, didn't want to bless me with the ingredients to make something like this california roll. Or even anything like Pioneer Woman's sushi.

So I decided to make my tempura. I had a ton of vegetables to use anyway, and some shrimp. If all else failed, we'd have tempura and gyoza for dinner. Captain Jax wouldn't complain!

But I made sushi rice anyway, from PW's blog, or at least close to what she made. Because I REALLY wanted sushi. And I got out everything for tempura:

• veggies of your choice, in smallish chunks
• tempura mix
  
• water
• rice
• nori (seaweed sheets)

I mixed up the tempura, and started frying things up.

I did asparagus first, because I've never had asparagus tempura before. It was good. but I think all tempura is good.

Wait, I should back up. Tempura, for those who aren't aware, is basically a batter you dip foods in and then fry. That's it. and it's good!

I stole this tip off of PW's blog as well. I froze my shrimp all stretched out, so when I fried it (while it was still frozen) it doesn't curl up! them when I decide to make sushi, which I sure did! it's flat and the roll will roll properly.

I drained my tempura, because no one likes oily-looking food. Well, I don't.

I mixed together some cayenne pepper and cream cheese, again, taking a concept from PW and altering it to what I had. I thought this would give the sushi some good flavor.

I also lined my bamboo mat with saran-wrap, because I don't like cleaning things. Anything.

Spread my beautiful sushi rice out on the nori, and tried my darnest to fill the whole thing. Sushi rice is not the easiest thing to spread.

(and because we're friends, I've got to tell you, this was my second batch. I totally ruined the first batch by following some stupid recipe on how to cook sushi rice and I had W-A-Y too much water in there)

Then I laid out my tempura shrimp (tails chopped) cream cream mix, and tempura asparagus.

Rolled it up all nice and pretty.

Mmm, see? Pretty.

And sliced and diced it.

I also fried up more tempura with my other veggies. It was good. I learned that the thinner you spread your rice, the better.

And it's fun to make something up and name it after yourself. :)

The Krystal Roll
Recipe Courtsey of: Recipesofacheapskate.blogspot.com

• shrimp tempura
• asparagus tempura
• sushi rice
• nori sheets
• cream cheese
• cayenne pepper

Spread sushi rice over the nori. Mix together some cream cheese and cayenne pepper. Lay shrimp tempura across rice, then cream cheese mixture, then asparagus tempura. Roll up the nori tightly. Slice in half with a wet knife, then slice the half in half, and so forth. THis will give you even slices.

Pot stickers--you can freeze these!

POT STICKERS

I love these guys. and who would have thought they'd be so EASY? Not me. These guys you'd pay probably $4-5 for a plate of 6 at a restaurant. I made about 75 for around $12. That's less than a quarter each!! Not too shabby.

Not only that, but they made my house smell so yummy and we got to use our chopsticks.

Here's what we're cooking with. We've got our ginger, sesame oil, soy sauce, ground chicken (you could use pork, but we're not really pork eaters) green onions, square wonton wrappers (circle would work as well, but my store didn't have those ones) and coleslaw salad mix.

I chopped up a few green onion stalks. I used two, but I think 4-5 would be better. I also used my new bamboo cutting board. I realized after the fact that cutting onions on something that can only be hand washed was probably not such a good idea. It'll probably make everything else I cut on it forever smell and taste like onions. Maybe I'll have to make it my official onion cutting board.

The go ahead and mix everything together.

Except for the wonton wrappers. We need those for later. And yes, that chicken is NOT cooked. I mixed mine with a spoon instead of my hands, because I hate touching raw meat. Especially when it's ground up like that. Grosses me out.

Mix it good, and decide if you have enough of everything. I put more soy sauce in, because I couldn't even smell it! Please don't taste it. Look at it, smell it, and see if it's good. Or don't. I'm ok with that too.


Now here comes the long process. My dear husband Captain Jax had to watch the munchkin while I did this. I know, his life is so rough.

I have here my tray I'm going to place all the completed wontons on (with my new silicone baking mat!) my mixture, a small bowl of water, and a plate with my wrappers.


Put just a tiny bit of mixture in the middle of each one. no more than a Tablespoon full. probably closer to a heaping teaspoon. Too much mixture and they're too hard to get sealed right. after you make a few, you'll figure out how much works.

Then dip your finger in the water and run it along two edges, so they'll seal. You could also use an egg wash, but water works just fine.

Fold it in half and seal it up!

This is where it gets tricky. You kind of want to fold it in half, bringing the corners together.


Then seal the corners together with some water.

After you have some made, heat a few tablespoons of oil in a pan. We want that oil hot! Once it's ready, put a few pot stickers in there. Don't crowd the pan though! give them all room to breathe.


in pan this size, I was normally cooking 4-5. This was my last batch.


Once they're nice and brown on the bottom, you're going to want to add some water. This is dangerous. Water and hot oil do NOT play well together.


I put a lid on my pan, and moved it aside just a tiny bit so I could add my water. You want these to be about 1/3 of the way covered, so they can steam well. If you have a glass lid, this won't be too bad. Leave the lid on and let them cook for about 5-7 minutes, until the water's gone. You'll probably hear a change in the cooking sound when the water's gone.


Flip them over and let them get brown on the other side too.


Mmmm! Doesn't that plate look great? If you cover them with a lid after they're done, they stay warm on the plate.

We served these with some soy sauce for dipping. We're still trying to find a good sauce that goes well.


But what about the 50 extra I didn't cook? you ask. Well, put that pan in the freezer for a few hours.

Then put them in a freezer bag and keep in your freezer. When you want to cook them, pull them back out and cook them just like the other ones. I had 1/2 frozen ones, and 1/2 fresh ones. Cooked up the exact same.

Can't go wrong with a meal you can freeze!

POT STICKERS

• 1 package wonton wrappers (about 50ct) either circle or square
• 1 bag coleslaw mix
• 1 lb ground chicken
• 2 t ginger
• 2-5 stalks green onions--finely chopped
• 1 tsp salt
• 2-3 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil

Mix all the ingredients together (except for the wrappers). Spoon a TINY bit(about a Tbsp or less) into the middle of one wrapper (be careful, they stick together in sets of two). Seal the edges with water. The back of the wonton wrappers have a good description on how to fold these up.

To cook, heat about 2-3 Tbsp oil in a pan. After it's HOT, add the pot-stickers, but don't crowd the pan. Let them brown on the bottom for a minute, then put the lid on it. Leave a tiny opening so you can pour some water over them. Hot oil and water do NOT play well together. Remember that kids! :) You'll want to have enough water to cover the pot-stickers about 1/3 of the way. Cover them, and let the cook until the water's gone. You'll hear a difference in the sizzle. Flip them over and cook until the other side's crispy.

(Linked up at: Eat At Home, )