Have you eaten at PF Changs or Pei Wei? Well my husband and I love their Kung Pao Shrimp. We often carry out an order of that and lettuce wraps and it is more than enough for us to eat for dinner. I have been feeling a little domestic so I decided to make Kung Pao shrimp for dinner. I found a recipe online and the picture made my mouth water. I rummaged through the spices and found that I had almost everything. Powered ginger and rice wine vinegar were added to my grocery list and the shrimp dinner was added to the menu.
Tonight I decided to make the shrimp (with my husbands help). I prepped all the ingredients and had them ready to go. We followed the steps and made the dish. It looked great! I tossed the shrimp on the plates, put the pan back down on the stove and realized that there were still 2 ingredients that never got used. One of the ingredients was the darn powered ginger that I had to hunt down at the store. Did I mention that Kroger was under construction at the time so everything was in a different place, that I was holding a screaming baby under one arm and pushing one of those car shopping carts with a wobbly wheel with the other hand? Ugh! I must have looked like a train wreck. I was asked by 3 different employees if I needed any help…..
So I double checked the steps. Sure enough the recipe never told me when to add the ingredients. We love spicy food and I knew that this dish would not be the same without these spices. I quickly tossed them in the pan with some soy sauce, heated it up and added the mixture to the dish. It was perfect.
Here is the new and improved Kung Pao Shrimp recipe.
Ingredients:
20 shrimp (I used raw shrimp)
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp sesame oil
2-3 chopped green onions
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp powered ginger
4 tbsp rice wine vinegar
4 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp sugar
1/3 cup dry roasted peanuts
Heat oil in pan over med-high heat.
combine vinegar, soy sauce and sugar in a bowl, mix and set aside.
Toss shrimp in cornstarch then add to hot oil and cook until the shrimp is almost pink. Remove the shrimp from the pan.
Add chopped green onions and minced garlic to the pan for about 30 seconds.
Add the sauce to the pan.
Return the shrimp to the pan and coat with the sauce. Add the roasted peanuts and heat for another 2 minutes
Add your shrimp to your plate. We put it rice.
In the hot pan add the red pepper flakes, ginger and a few tablespoons for soy sauce. Heat for about 30 seconds then dump onto the shrimp and the rice.
Top with more green onions if desired.
Enjoy!
My husband made it for lunch the next day…. Here is a snapshot!
kung pao shrimp
the silly monkeys 