Chinese New Year

To celebrate the Chinese New Year, I decided to make something Chinese (or at lease Chinese inspired). I only had shrimp, so I sauteed them and made a few sauces to dip them into. I also made Jasmine rice to go with it. The sauces were a bit of an experiment- you know, where you open your pantry and fridge and toss everything into the bowl? I made a spicy sauce and a tart sauce. I also put out some soy sauce, which is the middle sauce in the picture above. This was just in case the other two sauces were overpowering. We didn't end up using the soy sauce, as the two experiments worked out well.

Happy New Year!

Shrimp
I seasoned the shrimp with salt and pepper, then sauteed them with green onions and 2 Tbsp. butter. I wanted the shrimp to be very basic, so that we could really taste the sauces.



Spicy Sauce
As I have mentioned here before, I am a total wimp when it comes to spicy food. I can barely take my food Mild. But, Joe likes very spicy food, so I try my best to accommodate him. The last time I made a "spicy" sauce for him, he didn't even taste any heat. So I knew I had to kick it up this time. And boy did he taste the heat! He said it was really good-and very hot. I obviously didn't even attempt a try. For the sauce, whisk together the following ingredients:

3 Tbsp. Sweet Chili Sauce (found in the Asian section of the supermarket)
1 tsp. vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbsp. Ketchup
2 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
3 Tbsp. Tabasco Sauce

Tart Sauce
Mix together:

Juice and zest of 1 lime
1/2 tsp. rice wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil



Jasmine Rice
1 c. jasmine rice
2 c. Chicken Broth
1 shallot, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. Vegetable oil

Saute the garlic and shallot in the vegetable oil until translucent over high heat. Add the rice and stir, allowing the rice to toast a bit. Cook, while stirring, for 3 minutes. Add broth and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to medium for 15 minutes, until rice is tender.