Asian Chili Shrimp with Ginger, Garlic & Leeks

For someone like me who loves shrimp and spicy food, pan fried shrimp in chili sauce full of ginger, garlic and leeks is irresistible. Making chili sauce from scratch may seem complicated, but this is an easy dish to prepare and it doesn’t require list of complex ingredients. I paired my chili shrimp with steamed bok choy, but this spicy shrimp dish can be paired with just about anything and will be sure to be a hit any day or night of the week.

Tableware

I remember looking at a Japanese cookbook from 1980’s once that featured gorgeous looking Chinese dishes displayed on Blue Danube plates. I’m copying that look because I happen to have a set of vintage Blue Danube dinnerware and this pattern is a classic. It was designed and manufactured in Japan for an American company in the 1950’s and was a very popular pattern both in Japan and in the U.S. From what I understand, Blue Danube has now been discontinued, but you can still buy these beautiful porcelain pieces from sites like Replacements, and Etsy.

Preparing the Chili Sauce

Fresh Tomatoes

When I was younger and not too crazy about spicy foods, I preferred this dish made with sweet “chili sauce”.  Basically, I liked this sauce made with ketchup, barely there chilies along with other ingredients. Now that I’m a grown up who prefer less sweet tasting sauce, I like to make my chili sauce with fresh tomatoes, which brings out fresh, natural sweetness. Having said that, tomatoes also have some levels of acidity, so to avoid your sauce from being too sour, you want to add some sweetness. To bring down the sourness in my sauce, I added two tablespoons of rice wine (mirin) and one tablespoon of sugar.

Adding Heat to the Sauce

I usually use fresh peppers like Fresno, Serrano or Thai chilies, but I was completely out of them and used Siracha instead.  One tablespoon of the chili sauce adds just the right amount of heat and it saved me some time from chopping up chilies. For extra heat, you can combine fresh chili peppers and siracha.

Garlic, Ginger & Japanese Leeks

In addition to the tomatoes, you need minced ginger, garlic and Japanese leeks. All of these ingredients sautéed and simmered with tomatoes will cling nicely to your shrimp and adds texture and flavor. In case you’re not familiar, Japanese leeks look like very long, thinner version of regular leeks. I happened to cut my leeks in half as you can see below to save some space in my fridge. I favor these leeks over green onions because the green tops are much more fragrant and meaty stalks becomes very tender and sweet when cooked. If you can’t find Japanese leeks at your local market, you can use regular leeks instead.

When you mince your leeks, remember to separate stalks and leek tops. If you don’t separate them and proceed to sauté them at the same time, leek tops will overcook and become too soggy. Overcooking leek tops will also turn its color from bright green to dull green. I usually wait until the sauce is almost done to add leek tops so it will retain its texture and color.

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Pan-Frying Shrimp

Before you place your shrimp in a skillet and start pan-frying them, you want to lightly coat them in a flour. This is for your shrimp to remain tender throughout out the cooking process. If you don’t flour them and proceed to pan fry and fold them into a simmering chili sauce, it will harden and become rubbery. As you turn over your shrimp in the skillet, the flour coating on the shrimp may come off, but that’s okay, we’re not making fried shrimp. Again, flour is to prevent shrimp from hardening as it cooks. But you don’t want to waste what has formed on the bottom of the pan. I make sure I scrape the bottom and get all the fried coating with shrimp essence into the chili sauce.

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When your shrimp turns pink in color, transfer them in your chili sauce pan and fold them into the sauce. You want to make sure shrimp gets coated with tomatoes and aromatics. Then it’s ready for transfer to your serving plate. With mine, I always like to add some herbs as garnish on top.

Steamed Veggies

To include some fresh veggies with my chili shrimp, I steamed fresh bok choy. I steamed three bunches of bok choy in a bamboo steamer which was done in about 10 minutes. If you don’t have a bamboo steamer, you can microwave your greens and it will be ready in about five minutes. Other leafy greens like spinach, chard, or Chinese mustard greens will work too, but I like bok choy for its crunchy stalks and compared to other greens, they don’t shrink too much when steamed. I layered the steamed leaves on my serving platter so it can hold all that shrimp with glorious sauce and I can eat everything together.