Great tasting, umami (layers of flavour infused food that tickles the taste buds and activates digestion) doesn't always have to come from restaurant chefs, they can be created right in your own kitchen! If you have time, fresh ingredients, an alchemy of the right ingredients with the perfect recipe along with a dash of your own creative juices, you can create magic in the kitchen!
One of my all time favourite stir-fry dishes, is a saffron infused rice, sided with stir fry vegetables, sautéed shrimp doused with a sauce of coconut amines, garlic, jalapeño and ginger! This dish is bursting with flavour and definitely qualifies as 'gourmet'! Anyone enjoying it with you will wonder what you did with the restaurant containers!
Truth be told, I was not big on spicy, but the men in the family are and it was actually my 20 something son who bumped up the game on this dish! (He’s taking after his mother….) One evening when it was his turn to cook, with hubby as sous chef, he turned up the heat with the jalapeño and the ginger, and well,
“I’ll be a monkey’s uncle…..it was spot on delish! ”
Feel free to make this part of your cycling menu option, we did!
Saffron Rice with Jalapeño Garlic Shrimp Stir Fry
Preparation Time: 35-45 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Serving 4-6
Ingredients:
Shrimp Ingredients
24-36 shrimp (frozen, cleaned, deveined, cooked)
2 tbsp of lemon juice
Rice Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of basmati or jasmine rice, rinsed
2 tsp of coconut oil
big pinch of saffron
salt and pepper, sprinkle
3 cups water
Stir Fry Ingredients
1 large white onion, sliced
2 celery stalks with leaves, diced
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 cup of broccoli, chopped and/or 1 cup of cauliflower, chopped
1 sweet pepper, sliced
6-8 brussel sprouts, sliced
1 small or baby zucchini, sliced or dozen fresh green beans, halved
2-3 baby bok choy, sliced
Sauce:
Prepare each ingredient, place in small bowl and mix well, set aside:
3 fresh garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp of fresh ginger, minced
1/8 cup of coconut amines
1 tbsp of maple syrup
1-2 jalapeno peppers, deveined and seeds removed
1/4 cup of olive oil
1/2 tsp of sea salt
1/2 tsp of black pepper
Wok or Fry Pan:
1 tbsp of sesame oil
1 tbsp of olive oil
1-2 tbsp of water
Final Toppings:
1/2 cup of cashew nuts, toasted or raw
2-3 green onions, chopped
Preparation:
Shrimp:
defrost the shrimp if frozen and rinse, set aside
Rice:
heat the coconut oil in a medium sized pot ( 15-20 seconds) on medium -high heat
add the rinsed rice
stir the rice and sauté for 1-2 minutes (helps release the starch and increases flavour in the rice)
add a generous pinch of saffron, sprinkle with sea salt and pepper, stir in (crush the saffron between your fingers first)
add 3 cups of water and bring to a boil uncovered,
once rice is boiling, reduce heat to medium and cover for 20 minutes;
while rice is cooking, prepare the vegetables and sauce according to recipe
check rice at 20 minutes; when all water is evaporated, rice is done. Leave covered and fluff with a fork just before serving
Stir Fry:
using a wok or large fry pan, heat 30 seconds on medium-high heat; add sesame oil and olive oil
begin adding vegetables, starting with the onion, sauté 1-2 minutes
add carrots and celery, sauté, 1-2 minutes
add remaining vegetables except the bok choy
add half the sauce into the wok or fry pan, stir in and cover, lower heat to medium; steam for 2-3 minutes till vegetables are bright in color
add bok choy and cover and steam additional 2 minutes. Add water (1 tbsp at a time, if all sauce has been absorbed).
transfer all vegetables to a warmed holding dish
using the same fry pan, on medium high, add the shrimp to the wok or fry pan, sprinkle lemon juice over the shrimp and sauté quickly; add the remaining sauce and cover till shrimp are throughly heated (1-2 minutes)
remove shrimp and any remaining sauce, pour over the vegetables
just before serving, add the green onion and cashews
Meal Tip/Preparation:
purchasing frozen wild shrimp previously frozen, deveined and cooked helps cut back the time on this recipe
using a combination of brown, red and white rice not only helps add nutritional value to this dish, but it appeals to the digestion activator, sight; seeing a mix of colours will help fire your digestive juices!
to toast the cashews, you can add them to the wok or fry pan last (once you removed all other ingredients; don't clean the pan- it now is filled with flavour!) and quickly stir them for 5-10 minutes, till they are lightly browned. Alternatively, toast them in a baking dish in a 325F oven for 10 minutes, till lightly browned.
Enjoy! Blessings
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