03 Oct / Happy 5th Birthday “The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook” and a Recipe for Tangy Tomato Shrimp
This October, my other baby, The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook turns 5!
It’s been a crazy ride. The hardback has sold out and the paperback is well on its way. (Nonetheless, I’d be ever so grateful if you helped me out with this :)).
To celebrate, I’d like to highlight recipes that haven’t gotten enough love. You know what I mean–those recipes that never see life beyond the printed page. But that’s just how it is. When a cookbook has over 100 recipes (mine has 130), it’s hard to sift out the gems. Photographs often help—I find I’m more likely to try a recipe with a photo, a good one of course!—as does luscious language or offbeat ingredient combinations.
I’d like to remedy that. For the next 4 weeks, I’ll be showcasing under-the-radar recipes that deserve the spotlight and ones that I make for my family time and again. If you have my cookbook, dig it out and cook along with me. If not, I hope you’ll considering purchasing a copy for yourself or a friend!
We all love sweet and sour pork but have you tried sweet and sour shrimp? May Leong’s take on this perennial favorite has a sweet story behind it too. No deep-frying is involved (phew) and since shrimp cooks in minutes, this is an ideal weeknight meal! I like to add frozen peas for color and to satisfy my veggie fixation. Plus, I use peeled shrimp because my husband has a phobia of using his fingers in any stage of the dining process.
Enjoy!
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Tangy Tomato Shrimp
From The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook–Home Cooking from Asian American Kitchens (Sasquatch Books, 2009), Pg 214
Photo credit: Lara Ferroni
By cooking the shrimp in their shells, all the moisture is preserved and the shrimp meat remains nice and plump. For Hong Kong-born May Leong and her family, the fun part of eating this dish is licking the sauce off each shrimp before peeling. This way you taste the sweet juice of the shrimp mingled with the tangy sauce. When May was growing up, her Cantonese mother, Oi Yee Leong, cooked a variety of dishes and May couldn’t tell the Chinese dishes apart from the others. She thought corned beef and cabbage was a Chinese dish until she met her Irish husband! Only then did she realize her mom must have gotten the recipe from one of their former Irish neighbors. This dish is one of the few Chinese-influenced dishes May remembers learning from her mom before she passed away in 1984 at the tender age of forty-four.
Time: 30 minutes
Makes: 6 to 8 servings as part of a multicourse family-style meal
3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
1 large yellow onion, sliced into 8 wedges and separated
4 medium ripe tomatoes, each cut into 8 wedges
3 cloves garlic, minced (1 tablespoon)
2 to 2-1/2 pounds unpeeled medium (36/40 count) shrimp, deveined
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup rice vinegar
- Preheat a large wok or skillet over high heat for 1 minute. Swirl in 1 tablespoon of the oil and heat until it becomes runny and starts to shimmer. Add the onion and tomatoes and stir and cook until the tomato skins start to slip off and the flesh softens, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook and stir until the tomatoes are slightly mushy and the juices are released, another 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the tomato mixture to a plate and set aside.
- In the same wok, swirl in the remaining oil and heat over high until it becomes runny and starts to shimmer. Toss in the shrimp and sprinkle with the salt. Stir and cook for about 2 minutes. Don’t worry if not all the shrimp have turned pink yet.
- Return the tomato mixture to the wok. Add the ketchup and sugar and stir everything swiftly around the wok. Splash in the vinegar and stir to mix. Simmer over medium heat until all the shrimp have turned pink and opaque, 2 to 3 minutes. Shrimp cooks really fast so don’t step away from the stove. You don’t want to overcook the shrimp as they will be rubbery.
- Remove from the heat and serve immediately with freshly steamed rice and a vegetable side dish.
Pat’s Notes: Buy unpeeled medium shrimp no more than 3 inches long and, of course, the fresher the better. Previously frozen shrimp are okay (and usually what’s available) as long as they haven’t been sitting around too long. If in doubt, do the sniff test for ammonia or other “fishy” off odors.
Estimate about ¼ to ½ pound shrimp per person, depending on appetites!
If you’d like to adjust the seasonings, remove the shrimp first so they don’t overcook.