We interrupt our regularly scheduled blog posts due to illness. My sinuses are so clogged I feel removed from myself; kind of like the omniscient narrator of my own life.
Danielle stumbled into her kitchen after a day of work, searching for something edible. She stared into the cold light of the near-empty fridge with glassy Muppet sized eyes and sneezed for the umpteenth time. Being sick sucks, she thought, and chicken soup is overrated. Her taste buds had the strength of a Sprint cellphone signal so she decided on something intense, spicy and garlicky. While the fridge offered little more than a few cloves of garlic, ginger root, tofu, and a handful of mushrooms, the freezer held a pleasant surprise—a bag of frozen shrimp. Finally, a bottle of Sriracha sauce offered spicy salvation.
Oddly enough, this thrown-together meal was one of the best I have cooked in a long time. The ginger and garlic opened up my palate, allowing me to really taste the shrimp and mushrooms, which lightly caramelized and added more flavor to the pan. Even the tofu tasted good! Because I am a heat fiend, I Jackson Pollock’d the Sriracha sauce over all the ingredients before giving it all one last stir. Next time I’ll toast some sesame seeds to top it. But for now, here’s my simple recipe to blaze through an early spring cold.
Spicy Garlic Ginger Shrimp
serves 2
- 20 shrimp
- shiitake mushrooms
- 1 block of firm tofu
- 3 tbsp peanut oil
- 4 cloves of finely chopped garlic
- finely chopped ginger (I used about 2 tbsp worth, more or less depending on your taste)
- soy sauce
- Sriracha hot sauce
Heat peanut oil in a pan until it begins to sizzle. Add chopped garlic and ginger and cook on medium heat. Meanwhile, press the block of tofu between two plates to squeeze out extra water so that it will fry more easily. Cut tofu into cubes.
When the garlic and ginger have browned, add the cubed tofu and mushrooms to the pan. After they too begin to brown (3-4 minutes) add shrimp and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Finally, add the Sriracha, according to how much spicy you can take. Stir everything together and serve hot.
Related: Read a past post on comfort foods for the flu.
I totally agree with the not bland sick foods diet. I love peppers, onions and even garlic when I’m recovering from anything, even stomach flu. I always say it burns it out of me. It feels like it does. It even works for a bad mood!
It is late at night, I didn’t have much of a dinner, and I am pining away at other people’s food. I have done a lot of garlic shrimp in my day, so I found your recipe intriguing. I never thought of combining tofu, ginger, and mushrooms into this mix. Sounds very tasty, and something I would like to try.
Being Itailan, I firmly believe that garlic cures all!
I made this last night without the tofu and it was delish! Thanks for the recipe.