Sweet and Spicy shrimp

It's no secret that the Kitchen Witch loves Asian flavors. The sweet, sour, spicy, savory combo is taste bud nirvana. At the urging of friends and fellow bloggers I FINALLY bought some Sriracha and hoisin sauces to expand my Asian cooking flavor base. I must say I'm happy I did, both flavors are in this shrimp dish and wow, was it good!

First lets talk about the hoisin sauce. I was NOT expecting it to be so sweet! However its sweetness is nicely paired with sour like the lime juice. Soy sauce of course provides the salty base along with its quintissential 'Asian' flavor. Garlic adds pungency and helps balance the sweet/sour/salty combo. The final ingredient is the screamin' hot Sriracha sauce. If hot's not your thing add 1/2 as much, taste & add more if you can handle it. The Sriracha has a nice heat, evenly across the palate but doesn't invade your throat like other spicy things can. I'm pretty wimpy when it comes to heat but Sriracha, oh boy I love its burn!! It has a great flavor on its own but it really sings when its incorporated into a recipe.

The shrimp get a very quick marinade, 15 minutes or so. They cook up in less than 4 minutes total, so realistically you can have this meal on the table, from start to finish, in 20 minutes! Pair it with your favorite veggies, quinoa or rice and you've got a healthy, tasty Asian style meal.

Sweet and spicy shrimp
makes 4 servings
1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined (21-30 count)
2 T soy sauce
juice of 1 key lime (or 2T lime juice)
1 T hoisin sauce
3 cloves garlic minced
1 T Sriracha sauce
1 t oil for cooking

Mix the soy sauce, hoisin, lime juice, garlic and Sriracha together in a small bowl.

Peel and devein shrimp, remove tails if desired, and place into either a zip top bag or a bowl for marinating. Pour the marinade over the shrimp, toss to coat evenly and allow to marinate for about 15 minutes.

Heat up a heavy bottom skillet. Spread about 1t of oil in the pan. Put the shrimp in the pan circulary, so once the last shrimp is in the pan the 1st shrimp is ready to flip. Cook about 1-2 min max on 1st side, until the shrimp turns opaque on the sides and the bottom has slighly browned. Cook on 2nd side about 1 min. Promptly remove shrimp and serve.




Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople Recipe Calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 182.6
Total Fat 4.5 g
Saturated Fat 0.6 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.6 g
Monounsaturated Fat 1.7 g
Cholesterol 172.5 mg
Sodium 1,260.0 mg
Potassium 294.2 mg
Total Carbohydrate 9.9 g
Dietary Fiber 0.5 g
Sugars 2.2 g
Protein 24.7 g