Chili Crisp Shrimp with Green Beans

Recipe Hits:This dish was flavorful, bright and surprisingly refreshing. We’ve all been to the “shrimp stir-fry” show before and the additional of the very flavorful oil which you cook yourself and its cinnamony warmth seems like reading your favorite book and discovering an extra chapter where the characters you want to get together have a passionate encounter. As many have I have been living frugally in these lean times and I saved this bag of shrimp the whole month for this type of recipe- something which would require some effort which would pay off. I was rewarded for my patience in this particular specific circumstance.

Recipe Misses: Well, I think it would be hard to overstate how little my kitchen is…it’s not so much a room as it’s a hallway with an oven, a bakers rack and the world’s tiniest fridge. I have cooked many an elaborate meal in this kitchen, but this recipe requires some space and it would have been more fun if I was not surrounded by precariously balanced pots, pans and bags of quinoa. I did not have dry roasted peanuts and I got to the grocery store 5 minutes before it closed so I missed them. Bummer! I am pretty sure the shallots are supposed to take on a “crispy fried onion” texture but I am scared of super hot oil, so mine were flavorful and not so crisp but I am not complaining because they were still very good.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce

tsp of granulated sugar

tsp of red pepper flakes

tsp of ground cumin

6 tables of canola oil

medium to massive shallot

3 garlic cloves

cinnamon stick of 0.5 tsp of ground cinnamon

lb of shrimp

lb (or so) of green beans,, ends chopped off

0.9 cup of chopped dry roasted peanuts

SHRIMP

By marinating the shrimp you season it better than traditional sautés or stir fry recipes

Toss the shrimp with the red pepper, sugar, soy sauce, pepper and cumin. *I used traditional soy sauce and cut down on the amount of salt. Marinate for at least 30 minutes after the shrimp have completely defrosted if like me you are using frozen shrimp.

Chili Crisp Oil

Though traditionally made with dried chiles, this homemade version is flavorful, aromatic, and does not have chilis in the actual oil

Add the oil to your medium skillet and turn on medium. Then add your diced shallots, cleaned and diced garlic and cinnamon and cook until aromatic which should be about 7-9 minutes being careful not to burn your garlic. Drain the entire contents into a skillet over your heatproof bowl, reserve the shallots and return the oil to your pan.

Oh my tiny kitchen

My space proves miracles happen in humble places because this dish was AMAZING!

Heat the oil and add the green beans after cleaning them. My recipe said to make them uniform sizes but I think free sized looks more elegant so I kept them as is sized.

When the green beans have cooked, move them to the side of your pan and then add the shrimp to the space you just cleared along with the marinade. Cook the shrimp for 2-3 minutes on each side.

Bon Appetit!

When the shrimp has completely cooked, mix both sides together, and top with the onions and optional peanuts.