Korean Shrimp Stir-Fry

A month or so ago, I found a youtube user who, bless her existence, uploaded all 13 episodes of Nigella Kitchen on her channel so naturally I spent the whole day marathon-ing the show. In the 3rd episode, titled “Inspiration Everywhere”, she cooked a dish called Korean Calamari which looked SO GOOD that I literally was like this. And when I chanced upon the main ingredient, Gochujang for super cheap, I knew I had to make it. I made a few changes to the original recipe, like using shrimp instead of squid and swapping baby sweetcorn (SUPER YUCK) with carrots and broccoli. A quick online search for a non alcoholic substitution for the chinese wine in the original recipe led me to apple juice and/or white grape juice. I had neither but I did have a couple of limes in the fridge so I used that instead. So yes, I did a lot of replacing and adapting but the basic sauce is the same, promise!

 

For Singaporean readers, I managed to get this at Shine Korea Supermarket at Marina Square for $2+

 

Korean Shrimp Stir-Fry *adapted from Nigella Kitchen*
150-175g shrimp (I used frozen)
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp Gochujang paste
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp sugar
few dashes sesame oil
1 head of broccoli
1 large carrot
1 red onion
1 large chilli

 

The most important thing when doing a stir-fry is making sure everything is ready.

1) Cut the broccoli and carrot into roughly the same sized chunks
2) Slice the onion and chilli
3) Mix the sauce
4) Defrost (if you’re using frozen) and wash the shrimp

Done! And then the real fun begins.

1) In a wok/pan with vegetable oil over medium-high heat, stir-fry the vegetables for about 3 minutes
2) Add the sliced onion and chilli and cook until the onions start to sweat
3) Add the shrimp and cook until they are pink, about 2 minutes
4) Add the sauce mix and stir well

 

5) Let the sauce bubble for about a minute then turn off the heat
6) Serve over white rice

 

No need to adjust your monitors, it is this red.

 

I loved this!

Besides being so easy to cook, it’s also very tasty. I know the colour might be a bit intimidating, especially since Gochujang is basically hot chilli paste but it was not spicy in the least, which might be my only gripe with it. I need that heat man! But nothing one or two (or four) chili padis won’t fix.