Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Slick

Shrimp Stuffed Zucchini

_DSC0883I was thinking a while of what to do with the gift of zucchini my friend dropped off. My brother-in-law shared with me a fabulous zucchini recipe his wife made, VERBALLY, I tried to hang on his every word yet I lost him somewhere around when he said ‘cheese’. That is the exact reason that I need a visual like photos or written words._DSC0895

After they left, I asked my husband to recite the recipe and he goes ‘What recipe?’…I guess I’m not making that tonight.

The July issue of ‘Today’s cooking’ (今日の料理) magazine featured Stuffed Goya (bitter melon) recipe. Whadda ya know? Wait,wait don’t tell me (OK, I was influenced a little by NPR here). This could be a great substitute. This low calorie, tasty appetizer is still delectable after cooled so perfect for bento.

Note; I totally spaced out  half way through cooking, forgot to take process pictures, totally bad… but I hope you have a great imagination.

Ingredients and Instructions - reworked from original recipe

Equipment: non-stick skillet with lid.

  • 1 Zucchini 7-10 inches.
  • Large shrimp 15-to 20 depending on zucchini size. Remove shell and clean.
  • Potato starch or corn starch  about 4 to 5 teaspoons divided
  • Pine nuts (optional) about 1/4 cup
  • Ginger root  minced about 2 Tablespoons divided in half
  • Sake 4 teaspoons divided.
  • Sugar 2 teaspoons divided in half (omit if desire)
  • Salt 1/2 teaspoon
  • Pepper
  • Garlic minced about 1 Tablespoon
  • Tobanjan (spicy miso paste, available in well stocked super market )1/2 to 1 teaspoon depending on your spicy preference.
  • Chicken broth or Chinese soup dashi stock (中華だし) 3/4 cup
  • Soy sauce 3 Teaspoons
  • Vegetable oil
  1. Slice zucchini in half length wise. Remove seeds and make a well with a spoon. Sprinkle with about 1/2 teaspoon of salt on the flesh. Set aside_DSC0799.
  2. Put shrimp in a portable food processer then using the pulse button run the machine until it is chopped very small but not paste. Add pine nuts and make short run two times more.
  3. Add 1 Tablespoon of sake, 1 Tablespoon of minced ginger, 1 teaspoon of potato starch, 1 teaspoon of sugar, salt and pepper and spin the baby again for once or twice. Set aside.
  4. Wipe inside zucchini with paper towel then cut zucchini about inch wide. Dust with some of starch. Put some shrimp mixture to mold into a half moon shape. Dust lightly again with starch all over.
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  5. Heat 1 teaspoon of oil in the skillet. Brown both sides and transfer to a plate.
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  6. Add 1 teaspoon of oil in the same skillet. Put garlic, rest of ginger and tobanjan and sauté till aromatic. Put stuffed zucchini back into the skillet.
  7. Add rest of sake, broth and soy sauce into the pan. Put lid on to steam for 4 minutes or so. Turn once during the steam process.
  8. In a small bowl, mix 1 teaspoon of starch dissolved in 1/8 cup of water to make thickening agent.
  9. Pour the starch mixture into the pan. Stir gently until slickly coated, approximately 1 minute._DSC0813     

I was engrossed on making new recipes last week. My handsome dishwasher spent hours cleaning up the mess.

Waste not sprit - I made homemade furikake (rice topping) from shrimp shell I dried in sun – I then grind up in the blender, sauté with mirin, sesame oil and soy sauce, add sesame seeds to finish. Voila! A bit too crunchy but good for your bones!

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Beet dishes are for my beet lover husband. Both from Charles of Five Euro Food. Beets and Mozzarella Carpaccio and Beet bread. He is a fun yet practical food blogger I am leaning from. And his little guy is awfully cute!_DSC0837_DSC0851

Gateau au chocolat was for a young friend who is on the mend._DSC0820

Shiso juice is great solution! And refreshing!_DSC0874

A friend came for a short visit from Tokyo, Japan._DSC0858They brought us some souvenirs, among which were this red chill pepper thread (糸唐辛子). It’s not spicy but adds some stitches of sophistication._DSC0867Tokyo University graduate husband is an engineer at ANA (All Nippon Airways). They can fly anywhere the company flies inexpensively. So envious! _DSC0897

I bought a iPhone5! Now I will be an iphonographer! That’s slick!_DSC0863This is my very first iphoto! Hummmm, I need more practice.IMG_0002

What is that?!! My neighbor friend brought a dragonish ginger creature for me to see. Too bad this doesn’t look like Elvis. No, it's not eBay worthy I’m afraid. _DSC0899

 

 

 

 

13 comments:

  1. Ameki, you must be friendly to have a lot of nice friends around:) Lucky you! You've been promoted to iphonographer..I like that:)

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    1. Thank you Anne. I need more study on iphonographer but so far it's really handy.

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  2. Another great post!! And I noticed the bracelet!! Looks good on you . . . makes me happy!

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    1. Thank you Jalna. I love wearing these! But I think I need to buy more wardrobes to match...just kidding honey.

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  3. ゴーヤのレシピ、美味しそうですね!そしてプレゼンテーションも美しい!シソジュース、飲んでみたいです。お友達やご家族が遊びに来て楽しそうですね。明美さんがホスト、美味しいものも食べれそうだしいいなぁ(笑)。

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    1. ありがとう!いつか遊びに来てね。日本の旅が楽しかったみたいで、超うらやましい!

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  4. I love your Shrimp Stuffed Zucchini! I usually make a shrimp stuffed tofu at home. Can't wait to give this a try. :) Looks perfect for a light summer dish. Hey, that ginger do looks like a dragon. You never know...people over on eBay might bit high on it. ;)

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    1. Thank you Amy for your comment. I love to try your shrimp stuffed tofu.

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  5. Shrimp... my favvvvorite. ;)
    Nice iphone! Now tell me why I didn't get an iphone again?

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    1. Thank you Mariko. I know...this recipe is not for everyone. But I really don't understand why you don't like shrimp. Shrimp is our friend!

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  6. Thanks so much for the mention - I'm so glad you were able to try the two dishes (and I'm glad I'm not the only person who adores beets!). Did you use a mandoline to slice the beets? You seemed to manage to get very even slices! I'm so jealous of the colour of your bread too... Mine was more a brown colour with a slight hue of pink... nothing like your gorgeous version!

    That stuffed zucchini sounds wonderful... love that it's served in slices like that instead of just a huge long "boat".

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    1. Thank you so much for your comment. Your beets recipes are keeper. Now I have to try your grilled banana recipe.

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  7. Your zucchini looks fabulous! I love tobanjan (actually we are both addicted, so it's constantly in the fridge). The beet carpaccio and the beet bread are just breathlessly beautiful! I should make shiso juice one day too. I have just bought it in a pot from my Japanese shop and it grows so quickly! I use it almost every day. (It tastes so much better than the Thai perilla I buy most of the year...).

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