Thai Cabbage

A good way to stretch Thai leftovers, but good enough to be an entree. This salad is reminiscent of papaya salad. Use less chili for most people, was perfect for our taste.  Add chopped roasted peanuts next time.  Would also work with shrimp.

I made half this recipe with small changes from the original. Found this on Food.com, but was originally a Weight Watchers recipe.  

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons chili paste with garlic
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tbs peanut oil
• 4 teaspoon peeled minced fresh ginger
• 8 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 (10 ounce) bags very thinly sliced green cabbage
• 2 cups red bell peppers, cut in strips (or sliced tomatoes)
• 2 cups peeled shredded carrots
• 2 cup chopped fresh cilantro (or parsley)

Directions

1. Combine the first four ingredients in a bowl; stir well, set aside.
2. Heat peanut oil in a wok or large nonstick skillet over medium high heat.
3. Add ginger and garlic; saute 1 minute.
4. Add cabbage, bell pepper and carrot; saute 2 minutes.
5. Add lime juice mixture; saute an additional 2 1/2 minutes, or until cabbage is tender.
6. Remove from heat and sprinkle with chopped cilantro.
7. This makes 7 servings.

Shrimp Fried Rice

Adapted from a Simply Recipes post by Jaden Hair. 

Make sure to use leftover, day old rice when making fried rice. Freshly made rice will make a fried rice that's mushy. Serves 4.

Ingredients

• 8 ounces shrimp, shelled and deveined
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
• 3 tablespoons cooking oil, divided
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 stalks green onion, minced
• 3 cups leftover brown rice, grains separated well
• 1/2 cup frozen peas, defrosted
• 1/2 cup diced carrots, slightly steamed
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce 
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

Method

1 In a bowl, toss the shrimp with the salt, pepper and cornstarch. Let marinate for 10 minutes at room temperature. Heat a wok or large sauté pan on high heat. When the pan is hot enough for a bead of water to instantly sizzle and evaporate, add 2 tablespoon of the cooking oil and swirl to coat pan.

2 Add the shrimp, quickly spreading out around the cooking surface area so that they are not overlapping. Let fry, untouched for 30 seconds. Flip over and let the other side fry for 30 seconds, or until about 80% cooked through. Remove the shrimp from the pan onto a plate, leaving as much oil in the pan as possible.

3 Turn the heat to medium, let the pan heat up again. Add the eggs, stirring in a quick motion to break up and scramble the eggs. When the eggs are almost cooked through (they should still be slightly runny in the middle), dish out of the pan into the same plate as the cooked shrimp.

Next time try this instead:
To make the egg pancake strips for the garnish, return the skillet to medium-low heat and add the vegetable oil. Brush it over the bottom, then add the egg and swirl to thinly coat the pan, as you would for a very thin pancake. Cook until firm, about 45 seconds, then flip the egg like a pancake and cook the other side until firm. Transfer to a large plate and dab with paper towels to remove any grease. Set the skillet aside. When the egg is cool, roll it up and slice it into thin strips; set aside.

4 Use paper towels to wipe the same wok or sauté pan clean and return to high heat with the remaining 1 tablespoon of cooking oil, swirling to coat. When the oil is very hot, add the green onions and fry until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Add in the rice and stir well to mix in the green onions throughout. Spread the rice all around the wok surface area and let the rice heat up, untouched, about 2 minutes. Use the spatula to toss the rice, again spreading the rice out over the surface of wok. Keep doing this until rice is crispy enough for your taste.

5 Drizzle the soy sauce all around the rice and toss. Add the peas and carrots, the cooked eggs, shrimp and sesame oil, tossing to mix the rice evenly with all of the ingredients. Let everything heat back up again, until the rice grains are so hot they practically dance! Taste and add an additional 1 teaspoon of soy sauce if needed.