By: BEB Bookette Vivian Boroff

I love to cook. More importantly, I love to eat I also have an insatiable desire to collect cookbooks. I can’t say that I have cooked from every book that I have, but I can tell you that I have read every single one from cover to cover. There are however certain cookbooks that I lean on, those I know I can go to time and again for something delicious and simple to feed us.

Jaden Hair‘s The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook 101 Asian Recipes Simple Enough For Tonight’s Dinner, is one of those books. One of the things that I love about this book is that even though some of the ingredients may be exotic, Jaden made sure that they could all be found in the Oriental aisle of the average grocery store. I had the privilege of meeting Jaden in Wichita, KS.  for a book signing and cooking demo. She made several dishes that night, all of them were amazing, but my favorite was the Firecracker Shrimp, which I want to share with you today.

Firecracker Shrimp

Recipe from Jaden Hair and printed by permission

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon Cornstarch or Flour

1/4 cup (65 ml) water

24 medium shrimp – Raw, peeled and deveined, with the tails left on

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 cup sweet chili sauce divided

12 eggroll or fresh spring roll wrappers cut in half diagonally & covered with plastic wrap or a damp cloth

High heat cooking oil such as peanut oil for frying

1/2 cup Apricot Marmalade (for optional dipping sauce)

*Suggested tools: Wok or stirfry pan and a pair of tongs

Directions:

1. In a small bowl mix the cornstarch with the water to make a slurry  2. Lay the shrimp flat on a cutting board and using a sharp paring knife, cut a few nicks on the inside curve of the the shrimp (this will turn the shrimp into a relatively straight piece). Be careful not to cut through the shrimp. Pat the shrimp very dry 3. Season the shrimp with the salt & pepper. Pour 1/4 cup of the sweet chili sauce on a small plate. Hold the shrimp by the tail and dip both sides in the sweet chili sauce. Avoid getting the tails wet (it will spatter in the hot oil) Let the shrimp marinade for 10 minutes at room temperature 4. Using paper towels pat the shrimp slightly to remove excess marinade. Some of the sweet chili sauce should still remain on the shrimp 5. Roll the shrimp as follows; Lay an eggroll or spring roll wrapper  on a cutting board point facing up. Lay a shrimp on the wrapper with the tail sticking out. Bring the left corner of the wrapper over the shrimp and begin rolling left to right. Make sure that you roll tightly. As you roll, bring the top corner of the wrapper down and over the shrimp. Making sure that there are no air pockets, continue to roll to the right. Dip your finger or pastry brush in the cornstarch slurry and paint the final corner. Roll to seal. Lay the roll seam side down on a plate or tray. Repeat with the rest of the shrimp and wrappers. Cover with plastic wrap or a damp cloth.

6. In a wok, deep fryer or large saute pan, add 1 1/2 inches of oil and heat it to 375 degrees F. Lay the shrimp in a couple at a time being careful to not lay the tails in the oil (they will burn). Fry until golden brown on each side (about 3 minutes).

Drain on a baking rack and serve with the remaining sweet chili sauce.

I serve this with Jaden’s Apricot and Sweet Chili Sauce which is a half cup each of Sweet Chili Sauce and Apricot Marmalade mixed together. Enjoy!

Feel free to check out Jaden’s Website steamykitchen.com for more recipes.