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For Authentic Asian Fare, Bust Out Your Own 'Hot Wokky'

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By JADEN HAIR Tribune correspondent

The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 19, 2008

Updated: 03/20/2008 12:57 pm

My husband, Scott, and I moved from the culinary epicenter of San Francisco to Bradenton about five years ago after we decided the hourlong commute to work just five miles away was insane. Visiting the Tampa area, we found three times the home for half the price and neighbors who live more than 2 inches away.

Sold.

Happy, happy, joy, joy ... until I started looking at area restaurants. Oh, boy, was I disappointed.

You see, in San Fran, I was spoiled by the uber-ethnic eateries that dot every street corner. It's the type of place where when you ask a local for a Chinese restaurant recommendation, he looks at you for further clarification and asks, "Hong Kong, Sichuanese or Mongolian?"

The closest Asian restaurant was a mile away from our new home; it was called Bangkok Tokyo. One afternoon, while I stood waiting for my lunch-to-go order of Red Chicken Curry and Steamed Jasmine Rice, I overheard a lady at the sushi bar talking quite loudly on her cell phone. "Hey, Barbara, come meet me for lunch," she said. "I'm eating sushi at the Chinese restaurant."

WHAT!?!

Excuse me, but the last time I checked, neither Bangkok nor Tokyo was in China. That's kind of like calling Ceviche's Tapas Bar a French restaurant! Do I really live in a place where all Asian ethnicities get ignorantly lumped under Chinese?

I complained to Scott. I cried to my mama on the phone. I wanted to move back to SF. And, of course, Scott scolded me after the fourth-straight day of whining, "Quit your complaining, and do something about it."

And so I did. I started teaching hands-on cooking classes featuring Asian cuisine for the home cook. I've always been a rock star in the kitchen, and it was easy to transition my cooking into a teaching format. I love it. I've found my calling. I'm meant to teach the difference between dark soy and light soy, to write about how to cook with a wok, and to rid the world of goopy brown sauce that coats every stir-fry I've had in town.

Life doesn't get much better than a 15-minute shrimp stir-fry that features brandy and butter. My mom always tells me, "Hot wokky, no sticky." And it's true. Let your wok or pan heat up before you add any of your ingredients. Swirl the hot oil around a bit so it coats the entire surface of the pan. If your wok is super-hot, it will immediately sear the surface of your shrimp, which will prevent it from sticking.

In this recipe, I fry the shrimp halfway in hot oil, remove and then add it back in when the sauce comes together to finish cooking through. This gives the shrimp a nicely seared surface with an incredible snappy texture, instead of just boiling away in the sauce. And the bonus? No goopy brown sauce.

GARLIC BRANDY SHRIMP

1 pound raw tail-on shrimp, deveined

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided

2 tablespoons cooking oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon brandy

1/2 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons butter

2 stalks green onion, cut into 2-inch pieces

Rinse shrimp, pat completely dry and marinate in cornstarch and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt for 5 minutes. Heat your wok or large skillet over high heat. When wok is hot, add 2 tablespoons cooking oil. When oil is hot and just starting to smoke, add shrimp. Fry until they are half-done, approximately 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from wok, leaving the oil in the wok.

Turn heat to medium-high. Add the garlic; fry for 10 seconds. Add the brandy, rest of salt, sugar and butter. Cook sauce for 1 minute to thicken slightly. Add the half-cooked shrimp and green onions. Fry until shrimp are cooked through, about 2 minutes (depends on size of your shrimp).

Serves 4 as part of multicourse meal.

Jaden Hair is a cooking instructor and author of the blog Jaden's Steamy Kitchen at steamykitchen.com.

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