Ready, Set, Weekend with Simply Beautiful Eating
For those of you who used to follow my personal blog Narsbar Confessions of Every Day Life, you may recall a post about how much Chinese cuisine I consumed as a child. Yep, my parents used to take us to Lichee Gardens every single Sunday and order a boat load of food from egg rolls to almond cookies and everything in between. And, we usually had the same waiter – Mr. Wilson Lee.
This guy was a genius. He would go into the kitchen and bring us “extra special” treats because my father tipped him well. Oh, and the portions of food were always larger than the table next to us because Mr. Wilson Lee was our very own “gangsta waiter”.
Sadly, Lichee Gardens AND Mr. Wilson Lee are GONE FOREVER along with the most delicious egg rolls on the planet. I’m not kidding you. THEY WERE THE BEST. No really. They were.
Delicious crunchy vegetables and other unknown substances all encased in the most mouthwatering soft egg roll outer shell.
If I had to choose one dish as my favourite ……it was that egg roll. I could live on them and inside of them. That’s how I would want to ROLL.
Okay, so this post has absolutely nothing to do with egg rolls (although I have to admit, I’ve tried duplicating those in my lifetime BUT there’s none that remotely come close to Lichee’s signature ones). If the chef was still alive I would consider hiring him just to do a private egg roll party for me.
Over the years, I’ve made various oriental inspired meals. I have had some that were great and others that my family have gently suggested that sticking with take-out food would have been a safer bet.
Now that Steve and I cook for each other, there are less food critics to impress so a few nights ago I mixed up this “whatever I had in the fridge” sauce and went to town with this shrimp. If I do say so myself, I LOVED IT and I know you will too.
Mr. Wilson Lee would have been proud of my accomplishment, and in memory of him and those bomb diggity Lichee egg rolls, I made a very large portion for a table of two.
HOISIN HONEY ORANGE SPICED SHRIMP
-1 package (16-20) black tiger shrimp, shelled, deveined, washed and dried well. seasoned with: -Cayenne pepper -Garlic salt -Pepper -Spiced sesame oil -Avocado oil
Sauce for shrimp -½ cup hoisin sauce -1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar -2 teaspoons light soy sauce -1 tablespoon manuka honey -Zest from one orange -2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
Garnish: -Sesame seeds -Green onion -Coconut basmati rice ( see recipe below)
1) Season shrimp and set aside. 2) Mix all ingredients for sauce set aside. 3) Heat 1 tablespoon of avocado oil in a non stick pan or wok. 4) Stir fry shrimp in oil until no longer pink. I did it in two batches to avoid crowding. Remove first batch from pan and side aside while you stir fry the second batch. 5) Place all the cooked shrimp back in fry pan. Add sauce and cook 2 mins more, or until nicely glazed. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, top with green onion. 6) Serve with rice.
COCONUT SCENTED BASMATI RICE
-1¼ cups of basmati rice -2 (10 oz) cans of coconut milk -pinch of kosher salt
1) In a medium size saucepan, combine rice, coconut milk and salt. 2) Bring to boil, cover and simmer for 20-25 minutes. Make sure all the liquid is absorbed and rice is tender. Serve warm.
See ya next week!