Shrimp with Snow Peas

Mon. Feb. 12
Holt is usually chef de cuisine (and cookin') around here, but when we cook Chinese food, Barbara takes over the stove and Holt is sous-chef. It may have something to do with the many bonds between Chinese and Jewish culture (both strong on education and love to eat treyf on Saturday night). Or it could just be a New York childhood and a sensitive palate for the balance of flavors and textures that Chinese cooking demands.
Though the basic recipe for this comes from the slim but handy HP book, Chinese Cookery by Rose Cheng, I have developed my own way of preparing Chinese food. I hate thick gelatinous sauces, so I don't add cornstarch to anything. I don't pre-mix "cooking sauces," since I think that flavors (especially salt levels) need to be balanced depending on the ingredients, rather than decided on beforehand. And instead of stir-frying meat first and vegetables last, I do it the other way around. Most vegetables can stand up to getting reheated, but if you let freshly-fried shrimp or rare beef sit around while you do the vegetables, they lose their flavor and crispness, and only get rubbery in the final full-wok fry.
So get your sous-chef started on the ingredients (thanks, Holt!) and assemble them around you before you even heat the wok. Shell a pound of shrimp and start them marinating in two teaspoons of Shao Xing wine, a teaspoon of sesame oil, a teaspoon of minced ginger root, and a pinch of salt and white pepper. De-tail about three-quarters of a pound of snow peas. Mince a clove of garlic, and have vegetable oil, salt, oyster sauce, some clear broth (usually chicken, though this time we had lamb), and a warm platter standing by.
Start the wok over medium heat, and when it's hot, add a good shot of oil and the garlic, which you stir-fry quickly, because it will fry fast and burn even faster. Immediately add the snow peas and a pinch of salt. Stir-fry for a minute or two until they're bright green, then add a tablespoon or so of broth and stir-fry a minute until they begin to soften. Pour it all onto your warm platter, and scrape out the wok.
Reheat the wok, this time on high. When it's hot, add another dollop of oil and stir-fry the shrimps, flipping them frequently and not letting them clump together. When they begin to turn pink and opaque, add about a tablespoonful of oyster sauce, stir-fry to mix, and throw the platter of snowpeas back in the wok. As you stir-fry the whole dish, taste the sauce (which you now boil down in the center of the wok) and correct the seasonings: it may take a whole nother tablespoon of oyster sauce, or a pinch of salt, or neither. When the snow peas are hot and the sauce is reduced and bubbly, serve and eat it immediately.
nà gè zhēn hǎo chī - that was delicious. At least, that's what the waiter said it means, though it could be "we Jews want to try the pig snouts."