Szechuan Shrimp Stir Fry with Fried Rice

 Yesterday was Fat Tuesday and although I could have have done a Cajun-inspired shrimp and rice stir fry, I went in the Asian direction instead.

This dinner went from skillet to table in less than 15 minutes and was a one pot special. Gotta love a speedy weeknight meal. Or a speedy any night meal.

It also was a freezer and refrigerator drawer use what I have on-hand special.

I used shrimp from the freezer that I thawed, an assortment of vegetables, some of which were fresh, some were previously frozen, doused it all in Szechuan sauce and a drizzle of oil.

That’s it and then I sauteed it for 5 minutes.

I portioned the food onto plates, put previously cooked rice into the same skillet, Szechuan sauce remnants and all, cracked an egg and stirred, and the fried rice was done in a hot second.

The family was in such a rush to eat, I didn’t take rice pictures so use your imagination. It’s rice.

The star of the meal was the meat and potatoes the shrimp and veggies, and it received rave reviews.

 

Skylar loved it and chugged about 16 ounces of water throughout the meal and told me how spicy it was, but how good it was.

I think the Szechuan sauce has a little ka-ka kick. Scott said that it was spicy but not ridiculously so.

Then again, my idea of spicy and yours may differ since I can eat Hot Pepper Jelly with jalepeno peppers and serano chiles by the spoonful.

I can’t eat shrimp because I developed an anaphalatic reaction to them as an adult. About ten years ago, I went out to dinner with Scott, we shared a shrimp and vegetable stir fry at an Asian restaurant (oh the irony), and about a half hour after we left the restaurant, I started swelling up, my body became covered in hives, my airway started closing, I couldn’t breathe, and I spent a perfectly good Saturday night in the emergency room when I could have been out drinking and whooping it up. Those darn shrimp.

The doctors said there is no explanation why I suddenly developed an allergic reaction to them, but I had spent a lifetime eating shrimp, but they said it can and does happen, so I have to avoid them forever because anaphalatic shock and airway closure is not something you want to mess around with. It tends to put a damper on dinners.

Here are a few other stir fries and meals with rice:

Caribbean Coconut Rice with Garbanzos & Veggies (vegan, GF)

Mango Balsamic Rice, Beans, & Mixed Vegetables (vegan, GF)

Caribbean Citrus & Veggie Stir Fry (vegan, GF)

Apple Glazed Vegetable & Edamame Stir Fry (vegan, GF)

Do you like stir fries?

I do because they’re easy, one-pot, fast, and I can clean out all the odds and ends from the bottom of the refrigerator drawer and freezer that I want to use.

On the spicy meter, where do you fall? So mild you mistake your food for eating air, mild, medium, hot, or burn the house down and set off the fire alarm hot?

I have evolved into the last one. I love hot, but I don’t like sodium. There’s a difference which is why I personally don’t consume many prepared sauces because there’s an RDA’s worth of sodium in one tablespoon and I one tablespoon is a joke and I need about 17. Thus, I make my own hot sauce.

 The winner of the Babycakes Cupcake Maker & Cookbook Giveaway is Lisa @ The Gonzo Gourmet

Thanks for the Marshmallow Madness Cookbook Giveway entries