Bringing Singapore Home

Pulling one from the archives today because I'll be at the Chicks Who Click conference; wish me luck!

It's no secret that we love all things spicy here at Chez T. Awesome Stepkid R. is a heat freak and so am I. And like me, Awesome Stepkid R. is a bit of a show-off. So when he announced that he was bringing two friends home with him this past weekend, I decided to make something spicy. And, of course, mock his friends mercilessly if they couldn't handle the heat.

Yeah, I'm a cool Evil Stepmonster like that.

I clipped this from the November issue of Food and Wine; it's a variation of a recipe for "Singaporean chili crabs."** And best of all, it looked pretty easy!!

Chili Shrimp
serves 4
from Food and Wine Magazine, November 2009

2 pounds large shrimp, preferably head-on (ummmm, no. Barf.)
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons dry sherry
2 tablespoons Asian sweet chile sauce
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 medium jalapenos, seeded and minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 stalk of lemongrass, tender inner white bulb only, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
4 scallions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
Steamed rice, for serving

Using scissors, cut down the back shell of each shrimp and remove the dark intestinal vein, leaving the shell intact. In a small bowl, combine the ketchup, sherry, chile sauce, lemon juice, soy sauce and sugar.

In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil. Add the deveined shrimp to the skillet and cook over high heat, turning once, until they start to curl and turn pale pink, about 2 minutes.

Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil to the skillet with the jalapenos, garlic, lemongrass and ginger and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the scallions and the ketchup mixture and stir fry for 30 seconds. Spoon the shrimp onto plates and serve with rice.

I whipped this up, called the boys into the kitchen to eat, and watched like a spider in the corner, gleeful.

"It's got some spice," Friend 1 (aka: Enormous Yard Ape) said, choking a little.
"It's not hot at first, but it kind of sneaks up on you," said Friend 2 (aka: Prince Lilliput).
"This isn't spicy at all," said Awesome Stepkid R. (aka: The Boy Who Suddenly is Hairy).

I had to try it myself, just to see. First off--Delicious! These are very, very, good.

Second: the heat is definitely not an out-there, smack-you-down kind of heat. It does show itself, but it's not at all overwhelming or tongue numbing. At least in my opinion.

If you like things racy, you can do as Awesome Stepkid R. did and add some crushed red pepper to your pile of shrimp.

The boys ate the whole batch, tossing shells into bowls and licking their spice-stained fingers. Then Yard Ape, Prince Lilliput and TBWSiH grunted their thanks and descended back into the Man-Cave, which was already starting to reek of teenager and angst and promise.

**WTF is it with Asian recipes that say "crabs" and "shrimps"??? It's just weird.