Hot Peppered Shrimp

Adapted from The New Carry-Out Cuisine by Phyllis Méras, ISBN 0-395-42504-2.  Although this dish can be served hot over rice as a main course, I use it cold as an appetizer or as a contribution to a pot-luck meal.  The preparation time is short if you buy the shrimp already peeled and deveined, but I buy them in the shells because I think the quality is better.  For each pound, it takes me about ten minutes to peel them and another ten to devein them.  To prepare a double recipe for a pot-luck, I need about an hour and a half total.

• 2 cubic inches ginger root or to taste
• 1 large garlic clove or 2 small or to taste
• 2 scallions (optional)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon tomato sauce (or ketchup)
• 1 tablespoon cooking sherry
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• ½ teaspoon to 1 tablespoon hot sauce, depending on heat
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil
• 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
• sprig parsley, paprika, hot chili pepper, etc. to decorate

First, prepare the sauce.  Slice up the ginger root and garlic and put them in a small food processor or blender.  Purée the with the sugar, cornstarch, tomato sauce, sherry, soy sauce and hot sauce.  Also add the chopped-up white parts of the scallions at this point if you use them.  In my small food processor, I get a better purée if I don't add all the liquid at first, but you know your kitchen equipment better than I do.  For tomato sauce, I use whatever pasta sauce is open in the 'fridge.  Any thick sauce will do, even ketchup.

Now, a word about the hot sauce.  I use two-thirds of a teaspoon of Scorned Woman, which is pretty hot stuff, and I like hot foods.  Since hot sauces vary enormously in heat and people's idea of "hot" varies greatly too, you will have to judge for yourself how much of your hot sauce to add.  The original recipe, contributed by Mirabelle in Dallas, calls for 1 tablespoon of hot sauce plus ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper.  That much Scorned Woman alone would make the dish inedible for most people.  If you have only a wimpy hot sauce on hand, you could try using the cayenne as well.

When you have the sauce ready, heat the peanut oil in a wok over high heat.  When a shrimp touched to the oil sputters, add all the shrimp and stir-fry just until they lose their translucency.  Add the sauce and continue cooking and stirring over high heat until the sauce starts to bubble.  Serve immediately if you're eating it hot or dump out into a serving dish to cool.

When cool, the dish has a uniform pink color and benefits from a bit of decoration.  If you used scallions, the chopped green parts can be sprinkled on top.  Otherwise, a dusting of paprika in the center and a few sprigs of parsley look good.  If you're going to set it out among strangers, placing a hot chili pepper on top is a fair warning that the dish is spicy and hot.