Shrimp, Scallops and Asparagus/ Seafood Stir Fry 101

I feel the need to post something even though I'm not that excited about anything I've made lately.This week has been a little hectic here. I'm having car trouble which began with me breaking down on the Long Island Expressway at 7:30 in the morning while driving Neeta to work.This was nothing short of a pain in the ass, not to mention a little scary to feel your car dying under you while you're in the speed lane of a 4 lane highway with everyone going 60 miles an hour. We got out safely, but it messed up my day. So, when Wednesday rolled around and it came time for dinner, I had to resort to what I had on hand since my car may have breathed its last. I had some asparagus on hand so I decided to make something using them and some frozen shrimp I keep in my freezer. My thinking as far as it went, was to combine them in an Asian style.(I remembered I also had limes in the fridge). So this is how it went:

Take out shrimp and defrost them under cold running water. Oh. I have scallops in here too. Add them with shrimp. Chop one clove of garlic, a small bit of onion, one jalapeno and cut asparagus on the bias. Get out limes, curry powder and coconut milk.

I started some jasmine rice which takes about 20 minutes. So while that was steaming, I got some vegetable oil hot and dropped the shrimp and scallops in my skillet. I cooked them minimally (about 1 minute) then transferred them to a dish.

In the same pan, I added the garlic and jalapeno and cooked it just long enough to start smelling it. Then, I added the onions to the pan and lowered the heat a bit. see the brown bits from the seafood? Flavor there.

Add a little salt to the onions to help them give off liquid.

The onions take a minute or so to turn translucent at which time you add the asparagus. They will need about 3 minutes. Salt them a little too. If you see the onions or garlic turning brown lower the heat , otherwise cook them on medium. You can also add a squeeze of lime juice if you see things happening too quickly. As you can see from the photo,things are ok in my pan.

At that point, Neeta walked in and while trying to talk to her, I wasn't paying attention and added a whole can of coconut milk to the pan. (that's right, it was her fault!) About half a can is all that is necessary for this amount of food. Turn up the heat and cook the asparagus a few more minutes till they are almost done. And, add some curry powder to the pan.

Now, mix in the reserved seafood and let it all cook for an additional minute cranked up to high heat. Right before you plate it, add the juice of one lime.If you look at the photo of the dish up top and compare it to this one, you will notice the cook left a good amount of the sauce in the pan. This would be points off if I were grading!

We are going to a wedding over the weekend, so I won't be posting. Friends have asked me to officiate which is very nice. I'm sort of a chaplain for a group of people I'm associated with from Brooklyn. It's a long story for another time. Keep the faith!