Shrimp Tacos in 30 mins

Have you ever been in a situation where you buy something for 1 recipe and have lots of left overs you have to finish?
We brought a bag of avocado for something but only needed 1, so I had to think of a way to use the rest.
I had a package of frozen shrimp in the freezer so I decided to make tacos for dinner.
Shrimp is a great choice when you need a fast meal because it marinates in a very short period of time and it cooks very fast.

Shrimp Tacos

Makes 12 tacos Prep Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 5 mins

Ingredients

• 1 package of Shrimp (400g of shelled and deveined shrimp)
• 1/2 TBSP Mango Chipotle Seasoning
• 2 cloves of garlic minced
• 1 package of taco shells (12 hard or soft shells)
• 1.5 cups of shredded lettuce
• 2 avocado
• 1/3 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 2 tbsp diced red onion
• salsa

Directions

1. The first thing to do is rinse the shrimp under cold water and marinate it with the Mango Chipotle seasoning.
2. While the shrimp is marinating, wash the lettuce and cut into strips.
3. Grate the Cheese
4. Dice 1/5 of a red onion
5. Cut an avocado in half and pull it apart. Remove the seed. I like to cut the avocado while it's still in the shell before I cut it out. It's easier to dice up that way. So while it's in the shell, I made 4 cuts vertically and 6-7 cuts horizontally. Then I take my knife and using the hole the seed left behind, I cut out the blocks of avocado from there. To remove avocado from shell, take either a spoon or your knife and slice along the edge.
6. 10-15 mins should have passed since you first started washing and cutting things. This is perfect time to cook your shrimp.
7. Heat up your pan to medium high heat.
8. Once the pan is hot, add oil and the garlic. Stir until you smell that garlic smell. Once you smell that nice cook garlic smell, add the shrimp.
9. Stir the shrimp around to ensure even cooking.Once all the shrimp changes color and shrinks a little it's cooked. Should be less then 5 mins.

Then the fun begins to assemble your taco :)

Fish and Corn Congee

This congee is one of the ones where you add the extra ingredients in last.
This is a very simple yet yummy tasting congee. Using Fish as the protein allows for a very lean and healthy meal.

I use frozen basa fish fillet because it's easy to use and I usually have a package or 2 on hand in my freezer. I defrost the fish in the fridge overnight. As always, because there's seafood, I add ginger to help get rid of the "fishy" smell/taste.

For Corn, you can use either frozen or canned corn. If you have corn on the cob you'll have to remove the kernel from the corn to use it. Since I live in Canada where I can only get fresh corn in the summer, I typically use frozen or canned corn for this congee.

This recipe will make 1 big pot of congee enough to feed a family of 5.

Fish and Corn Congee

Makes 1 big pot Prep Time: Overnight Cook Time: 30 Mins

Ingredients

• 3 to 3.5 L of water
• 1.5 rice cooker cups of frozen rice
• 2 packages of defrosted basa fillets
• 2 cups of frozen corn or 2 cans of corn kernel, drained
• 3 slices of ginger
• 1.5 tsp of salt
• 2 green onion chopped (optional)

Directions

1. Put the water and ginger into the pot on the stove top and turn the heat to max.
2. Once the water is boiling, add in the rice and stir until it's boiling again so nothing sticks to the bottom.
3. Once it's boiling, turn the heat town to simmer and cover. Let it simmer for 20 mins.
4. While the pot is simmering away, wash the basa fillets and then cut each piece into 4 like I show in the picture to the right. You don't want to cut it too small as it'll break apart some more when it's cooked.
5. Strain the fish in the fridge to get rid of the water.
6. Chop up the green onion on a clean surface. (if you're adding the green onion)
7. At the 20 minute mark, turn up the heat again to high.
8. Once it's at a roiling boil, add the salt and the corn and stir.
9. Once it's boiling again, add the fish and stir. Let it come to a boil and cook it for 5 minutes.

The congee is not ready to eat. You can top it off with the green onion or stir it in at this point.
I generally like my green onion raw so I just add it on top of my boil of congee

Enjoy!

Stuff Squid Tubes with Pork and Water Chestnuts(馬蹄)

Sorry it probably doesn't look the prettiest in the world but it's very tasty!!

Instead of just stuffing the tubes with only meat, I like to mix in Water Chestnuts.
It's a little bit more work but very worth while.
Water Chestnuts brings a nice sweetness to the dish as well as a nice crunch. The sweetness and the crunchy texture is what makes the dish so special.
Actually, the meat mixture I use can be cooked as a dish on it's own and this dish is actually a twist on that one. :)

If the meat is seasoned well, there's no need for a sauce. If you didn't have time to season the meat, then you can pour a little soy sauce or make a thicker sauce with soy or oyster cause and some corn starch.

The squid tubes I buy are already washed and cleaned but I always wash myself and double check to make sure the bone is not left behind. There's only 1 bone in the squid and it's quite easy to find and rip out if it is left behind.

Stuff Squid Tubes with Pork and Water Chestnuts

Makes 6 tubes Prep Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients

• 1 Package of squid tubes, about 6 tubes in the package.
• 200g of minced pork
• 4-5 water chestnuts
• 1/2 tsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground white pepper (optional)

Directions

1. Mix the soy sauce, sugar and white pepper into the minced pork and let it sit and marinate.
2. Peel the water chestnuts with a knife and then mince. The volume of the chestnut should be less then the volume of pork. So start off with 4 and see how much you have and add the 5th chestnut if required. All depends on the size of the water chestnut.
3. Add to the pork and mix well.
4. Wash the squid tubes and strain to dry.
5. Stuff the pork and water chestnut mixture into the tube. Stuff about 3/4 full. The squid will shrink!! NOTE: Left over pork mixture can be pan fried to look like hamburger meat!! Very tasty on it's own.
6. Place in a dish that can be used to steam.If you have time, leave the dish alone a little longer so it can sit and marinate.
7. Set up your steaming equipment and heat the water.
8. Once the water is boiling, place the plate in place for the dish to be steamed.
9. It should only take about 15 mins. After 10 mins, check on how the dish looks, you can even us a meat thermometer to poke the middle to check temperature of the meat.

Once it's cooked you're done and ready to eat :)
If you didn't have time to let it marinate or you didn't use pre-marinated mince pork, then you might want to add a bit of soy sauce or make that oyster sauce.
The flavour will come from the meat and the water chestnut!

Variation

Instead of using Water chestnut, use Lotus Root. It also has a sweetness like water chestnut but it's less crunchy. Volume wise, I like to use the same volume of minced Lotus Root as pork so it's 1:1 volume wise.