Oven baked Garlic Shrimps

Being a working wife, we need to think of simple and easy way to settle a meal and this dish turns out to be one of them. Toss them with garlic, chili padi and olive oil. Bake it in the oven and voila one dish up and ready.

I got this inspiration a year ago when we organised a BBQ at our place. Being lazy bums, we catered all the BBQ dishes. And the shrimps turn out to be a hit. It was just plain shrimps with some seasoning. So I decided to trial and error. It turns out good. So it is one dish that can be done in less than 30 minutes. Of course, I bought frozen shrimps that have be deshelled. So I just need to remove the shell on the tail and devein them. Haha...one chore less. 

All you need for this is just the shrimps, cloves of garlic, olive oil and of course, I love spicy food - so I added chili padi.

More garlic the more fragrant it is. So I like mine with loads of garlic.

Directions

Wash and devein the shrimps and pat them dry. Add some olive oil. T

oss in the a tablespoon full of garlic and chili padis into the bowl of shrimps. Mix and set aside. 

Lay the rest of the finely chopped garlic on the aluminium foil. Pour the shrimp and garlic mixture on top of it. 

Drizzle more olive oil on top.. 

And in they go to the oven. 

I baked mine in 150 degrees celsius. I will open the oven and stir them alittle to check because I worried if I have too many shrimps, some won't get cook. 

Once the shrimps turn orange and curl, remove them from the oven.

Garnish with coriander. But I usually don't have that in my fridge. haha...maybe I should grow some. 

Cocktail Appetizer

This is a very refreshing & well appetizing dish. And it is always a hit in any party. Perhaps its something to do with the mint or perhaps the sweet & sour & a little spicy punch. 
No cooking is needed  here. That's why it is so simple.

You can use any types of clams or even prawns. But make sure u drain them well. When using prawns, blanch them and set them aside. 

You have the pleasure to play around with the fruits. Use mangoes or melons instead of apples. Replace pomelo with oranges. 

Pacific Clams Cocktail 

Ingredients
1 can of pacific clams, drained well
1 green apple
1 red apple
Sauce
1 cup of Thai chili sauce (use Kimball)
1/2 a red onion, finely chopped 
2 chili padi (bird's eye chili), finely chopped
5 mint leaves, finely chopped
1 lemon or 2 lime, juiced
3/4 tbsp of fish sauce
1 tsp of olive oil
Garnish
1/4 cup of peeled pomelo or orange (omit if you don't have this)
2 parsley leaves, finely chopped
Method
1. Cube the apples & soak them in salt water.
2. Mix the sauce in a big bowl. 
3. Toss in the pacific clams and apple cubes. Make sure all the ingredients are evenly coated by the sauce. 
4. Cling wrap it and chill it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
5. Remove from fridge. Top with pomelo and parsley before serving!

Stir Fry Shrimps in XO Sauce

Well it is just another holiday here, so I decided to whip up something easy from what I can find in my fridge. Shrimps! I have abundance of shrimps frozen in the freezer. So I guess shrimp is on the menu. 

Opening my cupboard full of canned food and I saw my XO sauce. I have been thinking what to cook with it. Now its the time!

Stir Fried Shrimps in XO Sauce

Ingredients

15 pieces of shrimps (deshelled)

1 green onion (you can choose to use red onion)

3 cloves of garlic (chopped into small pieces - rice grain size)

2 tbsp XO sauce

1 chili padi sliced

Sauce

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp sugar

1 tbsp rice wine/sherry wine

2 tbsp water

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp of corn flour

Method

1. Slice the green onion.

2. Mix the ingredients under the Sauce and set aside. 

3. Use a small paring knife, cut along the outer edge of the shrimp's back and de-vein it. This also allows the shrimps to curl into a ball (for presentation).

4. Heat up the frying pan with 1 tsp of cooking oil, add in to the chopped garlic & onion. Stir fry for a few seconds. 

5. Add in the shrimps &  XO sauce. Stir fry for 1 minute. 

6. Pour in the mixture that was prepared earlier and sliced chili padi. Coat the shrimps evenly. 

7. Once all the shrimps are beautifully curl and turn orange. Dish them up immediately. 

8. Garnish with parsley and enjoy!

Note: You can add some vegetables such as celery or asparagus or capsicum in this dish. As I don't have any on hand, I have to make do with it.