Shrimp with Mushrooms and Cucumbers

This dish was very good, but extremely hard to follow the way it was written in the cookbook.  One big paragraph describing all these steps is ridiculous.  This comes from The Key to Chinese Cooking by Irene Kuo.  I have never made a bad dish out of this cookbook, but you must study and underline to make sure you can follow in the heat of a stir-fry.  So I am going to make it easier for you to make this light, bright and refreshing dish.  This is a good 3 heaping dish serving with rice. 

Ingredients:

1# medium shrimp, shelled and deveined; rinsed and dried.

2 T dried mo-er mushrooms (presoaked) I have no idea what these mushrooms are; I used dried shitake, presoaked and cut in quarters.

1 large firm, slender cucumber

1 large clove garlic, crushed and peeled

2 quarter-sized slices peeled ginger, minced

1 T finely chopped fresh coriander (cilantro) or parsley

 Sauce:

2 T light soy sauce

1 T dry sherry

¼ t salt

¼ t sugar

Sprinkling black pepper

Thickener:

¼ C water

1 t cornstarch dissolved in 1 T water

2 t sesame oil

On hand:

5 T peanut oil

½ t salt

1 T dry sherry

Directions:

1.       Pour 1 C hot water over the mushrooms and soak for 15 minutes.  Rinse in cold water, taking out the hard stem.  Drain.

2.       Cut off the ends of the cucumbers; rinse and dry.  To make a green-white pattern, peel the cucumber lengthwise at 1” intervals with a vegetable peeler or paring knife.  Then cut in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds with a small spoon.  Cut the halves diagonally into thin slices about ¼” thick and 1 ½ “long.

3.       Measure out the water.

4.       Dissolve the cornstarch and add to it the sesame oil. 

5.       Mix the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl. 

6.       Place everything the water, the cornstarch solution, the sauce with the garlic, ginger, and coriander in separate piles or bowls near your wok.

Now you are ready to cook.

7.       Heat a wok until hot; add 2 T of the oil, swirl, and heat for 30 seconds. 

8.       Scatter in the mushrooms and cucumbers and stir rapidly a few times; sprinkle in ½ t salt and the 1 T sherry. 

9.       Stir vigorously for about 30 seconds until they are gleaming with oil.  Pour them into a dish. 

10.   Clean the pan and reset it over high heat.  Heat until hot, adding the remaining 3 T of oil.

11.   Throw in the garlic, ginger and coriander and stir rapidly a few times.

12.   Add the shrimp and stir in fast flipping and turning for 1 minute, until they are well seared and pink.  Give the sauce ingredients a big stir, pour over the shrimp, and toss to season them evenly.

13.   Add the water and cornstarch sesame sauce, turn heat to medium low, cover, and steam-cook for 1-1 ½ minutes.

14.   Turn heat to high, and add the mushroom/cucumber mixture and stir in fast sweeping turns until the shrimp and vegetables are gleaming and lightly glazy.

15.   Pour into a hot serving dish and serve with rice. 

I know that rice is now said to have high levels of arsenic.  Rinse the rice first before adding clean water to cook.  I know that 15 steps may seem daunting, but the first 6 tell you what to have on hand.  The rest are just steps to throwing it in the wok.  Line your piles and bowls up in order of addition and everything will go smoothly.