503 Shrimps with asparagus

503-asperges-hamIn Beb’s chapter ‘noodles and other Chinese dishes’ this dish sounds great. A Chinese recipe for shrimps with asparagus. In Holland you can buy asparagus anywhere in May and June. This vegetable anounces summertime! ;-). Beb states that asparagus from a jar (or canned soup asparagus) are okay to use. I do not particularly like this idea. I go for fresh asparagus, because it is asparagus time in Holland!

This dish is enough for 2-3 people and takes about 45 minutes to make.


Shrimp with asparagus from Beb Vuyk Groot Indonesisch Kookboek, page 403.

Ingredients

200 grams of shrimps
1 can of soup or leftover asparagus with asparagus broth
1 tablespoon of cornstarch
2 tablespoons of oil

Herbs

2 slices of ginger root
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
2 tablespoons of sherry

Sprinkle the shrimp with 1 tablespoon of sherry and leave them for some time. Hest up the oil and fry the shrimp with grated gingerroot for 2 minutes. Then add the asparagus pieces, stir them in well. Add 1 cup of the asparagus cooking liquid, sherry and soy sauce and bind it together with the diluted cornstarch.


503-asperges-ingredientsMy asparagus are so fresh they squeak when you hold them together. As they should do. Lots of Chinese recipes use sherry and cornstarch.

I get 200 grams of prawns. No Dutch prawns because they are often too tender –  they are quite tasty though.

503-asperges-sherry

I start immediately as Beb says to sprinkle the shrimp with sherry. I use a medium sherry, and I add not too much. It is quite an intense flavor.

While the shrimp sucks up the sherry, I have time to peel the asparagus and cook them the old way ;-). I make extra because I want to make asparagus the classical Dutch way too. I got super thick asparagus so I let themcook for about 9 minutes. I let them rest a bit (about 10 minutes), add hard boiled egg, ham, nutmeg and some butter on top ( I use creme fraiche this time).

503-asperges-ingredients-gemberThe shrimp can not stay too long in the pan, because they were already cooked when they went in. I sauté them briefly and add the grated ginger almost immediately.

503-asperges-indepanThe boiled asparagus can go in now. I chop them into a few pieces and I add half a cup of cooking liquid too.

I use Japanese Kikkoman sauce of the soy sauce. It is super salty, so do not use too much.

503-asperges-zoute-ketjapI made the cornstarch into a smooth liquid with a little water. It will make the sauce thicken a little bit – this is done a lot with Chinese food.

503-asperges-maizenaThis dish needs more sherry. I have to add another tablespoon to the shirmps. I bring it briefly to the boil to get rid of the alcohol.

But how does it taste? Because I make all Beb Vuyk’s recipes from her book, I have to go through my least favorites too. I love asparagus, do net get me wrong, but this sherry-soy sauce is not my favorite. I think it is too salty and ‘too sherry’ for my taste. Also I do not like the cornstarch through the sauce. Too thick and heavy.

503-asperges-closeI love the taste of the asparagus though. They have sucked up the saltyness and that is pretty tasty. Fortunately, I also made asparagus the traditional Dutch way with ham, egg and butter (I use this time creme fraiche -delicious).

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