Shrimp is Drowning (Advice: Use The Right Recipe!)
Using a recipe as originally intended can make a tremendous difference. This proved to be true for making shrimp and egg stir fry.
Below are some links to more details, including photos:
My Story
Last month, I substituted fresh prawns with frozen shrimp in a recipe, but it didn’t turn out as I had hoped. Since then, I was determined to find a good recipe that I could use frozen shrimp to stir-fry with eggs.
Inspiring Recipe
During my search, I was thrilled to find the recipe, 10-Minute Shrimp and Egg Stir Fry, on Cookerru’s website. One of the ingredients listed was exactly what I was looking for: starch. I couldn’t wait to see if this one item would help control the liquid in the dish!
First Try
I had all the ingredients at home, so as soon as I had decided when I was going to test the recipe, I was able to start as scheduled.
Ingredients to Use
With one pound of shrimp, I changed the amount of the other items and used the following:
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1/8 teaspoon of black pepper
- 1 teaspoon of sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons of corn starch
- 12 large eggs
- 1/8 teaspoon of black pepper* (For the egg mixture)
- 1/8 teaspoon of salt (For the egg mixture)
- 2 green onions
- 2 tablespoons of oil (To cook the shrimp)
- 2 tablespoons of oil (To cook the eggs)
For the oil, I used avocado oil instead of vegetable oil due to availability. Where the recipe called or had the option for white pepper, I used black pepper since that’s what I had in the cabinet. Lastly, the black pepper with an * above was not originally in the recipe, but the reason it was added will be explained in the next section.
Steps to Prepare
For the three steps in the instructions of the recipe, I slightly modified the first and last ones.
When I was pre-reading Step 1, I noticed it called for salt in the egg mixture, but it wasn’t listed in the ingredients list, so I transferred the amount to my list, but put black pepper instead! When I realized the error while I was adding it to the eggs, I just tacked on the salt that should’ve been included and left the pepper in the mixture.
Also, instead of splitting the green onions between Steps 1 and 3, I cut all the green onions and put them in the egg mixture in Step 1, so the green parts would be cooked as well.
During the process of cooking, I was so relieved to see that the shrimp did not release a lot of water!
Time to Eat
After the short cooking time, the dish was ready for tasting:
Recipe Rating
Below were the results of the recipe after the first try:
| Number of Ingredients | Effort (Low🤏, Medium🤏🤏, High🤏🤏🤏) | Cost per Serving (<$2💰, $2-5💰💰, >$5💰💰💰) | Taste (Not for me🤔, Trying Again🙂, Eating Regularly😋) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8️⃣ | 🤏 | 💰💰 | 🙂 |
The shrimp had a nice springy texture. Also, the eggs had a slight golden aroma and spiciness from the green onions and black pepper.
Second Try
Since I accidentally added black pepper in the egg mixture last time, I wanted to omit it this time considering it wasn’t shown in the recipe.
Ingredients to Use
For the second time, I had .92 pounds of shrimp, so I decreased the amount of some items and ended up using the following:
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1/8 teaspoon of black pepper
- 1 teaspoon of sesame oil
- 1 3/4 teaspoons of corn starch
- 11 large eggs
- 1/8 teaspoon of salt (For the egg mixture)
- 2 green onions
- 1 3/4 tablespoons of oil (To cook the shrimp)
- 1 3/4 tablespoons of oil (To cook the eggs)
Steps to Prepare
For the steps, I repeated what I did last time without adding the extra black pepper.
Time to Eat
Here’s the dish from the second try:
Recipe Rating
Below are the results of the recipe from this round:
| Number of Ingredients | Effort (Low🤏, Medium🤏🤏, High🤏🤏🤏) | Cost per Serving (<$2💰, $2-5💰💰, >$5💰💰💰) | Taste (Not for me🤔, Trying Again🙂, Eating Regularly😋) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8️⃣ | 🤏 | 💰💰 | 🙂 |
Though the assessment shown in the chart above didn’t change from the first time, the shrimp was a little too salty. Also, I missed the taste of the black pepper in the eggs that I had in the first try.
I feel that this recipe will soon be part of the regularly rotation. To get it there, I will do the following next time:
Continuous Improvement
- Adjust the salt amount for the shrimp by rounding down, instead of up, to the nearest cooking fraction.
- Add black pepper in the egg mixture.
In the last year or two, I’ve started my journey from having a fixed mindset to a growth mindset. With that change, I’d like to share with my younger self the following regarding the “black pepper incident”:
Lesson for Dumber Self
- Sometimes what is initially seen as a mistake can be reframed as a new opportunity for growth. In the case of me adding black pepper even when the recipe didn’t list it, I realized that the black pepper actually enhanced the shrimp and egg stir fry dish!
What will you do now?
Next Step for You
- Try the 10-Minute Shrimp and Egg Stir Fry recipe on Cookerru’s website?
- Share a cooking “mistake” that you made that ended positively?
- Read another post on this site? (Go to the menu at the top of the page.)