KUNG PAO SHRIMP

I've been making this dish for probably 40 years, and it's a staple of our Christmas menu.  About 30 years ago we had a favorite restaurant in Pasadena, called Panda Inn, and they called it "Spicy Shrimp with Cashew."  They had the freshest shrimp, and they had a way of deveining them that caused them to shrink into a spiral when cooked, and it was just delicious.  So I took my recipe that came from a very, very old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, and worked on it until it closely approximated what we remembered from Panda.  

As an aside, Panda Inn was the original restaurant of chef Ming-Tsai Cherng and his son Andrew.  Andrew knew us well, since we ordered take-out every Friday night for years.  Steve would call and Andrew would recognize his voice and say, "the usual," which was double orders of Spicy Shrimp with Cashews, Assorted Pan-Fried Noodles, Hot Burned Pork, Pot Stickers, and Szechwan chicken.  We were particularly addicted to the Hot Burned Pork, which has disappeared from their menu, and I can't find a recipe anywhere, so if anyone out there knows how to make it, please, please let me know.  Anyway, Andrew was the businessman, and he came up with the idea of expanding in a very controlled way.  That resulted in the Panda Express fast food restaurants that you're undoubtedly familiar with.  We find that if you get the dishes right after they come out of the wok, they're every bit as good as what we remember from Pasadena.  Like any food, the longer it sits in a steam table, the less tasty it gets.  Oh well.

KUNG PAO SHRIMP

Prep time:  20 minutes                                                        Cooking time:  10 minutes

Cooking Sauce:                         

3 Tablespoons soy sauce

1 ½ Tablespoons rice wine vinegar

1 ½ Tablespoons Chinese rice wine

4 Tablespoons water

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

Marinade:

1 1/2 Tablespoons Chinese rice wine

1 ½ Tablespoons cornstarch

3/4 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon white pepper

1 ½ Tablespoons canola oil

2 lb medium shrimp, shelled and deveined

4 Tablespoons canola oil, divided

6-8 small, dry, hot chile peppers

1 1/2 cup raw cashews

salt

1 ½ teaspoons minced garlic

1 ½ teaspoons minced ginger

3 whole scallions, cut in 1” lengths

Prepare the sauce.  In a bowl, combine cooking sauce ingredients and set aside.

Marinate Shrimp. In a bowl, combine wine, cornstarch, salt and pepper.  Add shrimp and stir to coat, then stir in the Tablespoon of oil and let stand for 15 minutes to marinate. 

Stir-fry cashews.   Heat a wok or wide frying pan over medium heat.  When pan is hot, add 1 Tablespoon of the oil.  Add whole peppers and cashews and cook, stirring, until peppers just begin to char.  (If peppers become completely black, discard.  Remove cashews from the pan and repeat with new peppers.)  Remove from pan, salt, and set aside.

The dish: Add remaining 2 Tablespoons oil to pan and increase heat to high.  When oil begins to heat, add garlic and ginger.  Stir once, then add shrimp and stir-fry until they turn pink, about 2 minutes.  Add peppers, cashews, and scallions to pan.  Stir cooking sauce, add to pan, and cook, stirring, until sauce bubbles and thickens.  Be sure to turn it out into a serving dish immediately to stop the cooking.

Serves 6.