When growing up in San Francisco there was not a more festive holiday than Chinese New Year. The sidewalks of Market Street would be lined with thousands of people on a usual cold, damp and foggy evening in February to watch the colorful and loud parade. And then there was the star of the parade. The flowing dragon who was both lead and followed by dancers tossing firecrackers to ward off any evil spells. Now, as an adult and away from San Francisco, I still like to celebrate Chinese New Year with the difference being, I do it with food!
This is one of my favorite Asian salads because it is both sweet and spicy and to top it off, it has that great crunch and the taste of raw beansprouts. The sweetness of the salad comes from the hoisin sauce (which you can find in the Asian section of your local market). The spicy comes from the Chinese hot chili oil (be careful with this, it is very hot). This is really what a salad is all about -- various tastes, textures and freshness.
Ingredients needed to make Asian Sizzling Shrimp Salad with Sesame Seeds (serves 2):
- 1/2 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1 tsp. Chinese chili oil
- 1 tsp. toasted sesame oil
- 1 Tbs. olive oil
- 1 Tbs. hoisin sauce
- 1 tsp. soy sauce
- 2 green onions, sliced thinly lenghtwise
- 1 tsp. sesame seeds
- beansprouts (amount depends on you)
Steps:
- Rinse the shrimp under cold running water. Pat dry and set aside.
- In a wok or saute pan over medium high heat, combine the chili oil, sesame oil and olive oil.
- Carefully add the shrimp to the wok and stir-fry 3 minutes.
- Into the wok add the hoisin sauce and soy sauce and stir-fry 2 minutes.
- Add the green onions and sesame seeds and stir-fry 1 minute.
- Remove the shrimp from the pan and place upon a mound of beansprouts and serve.
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