Shrimp Fried Rice

If you've ever wanted to feel like a professional cook, just march into your local grocery store, walk up to the nearest worker and confidently ask for sambal oelek.  (saam-baal-ow-lek)  I can tell you from experience that if you live in rural Georgia, chances are good that grocery store employees will have no idea what it is and consequently assume that you're a professional chef who knows how to use exotic ingredients.  💁🏻‍♀️

I chose to ignore the fact that, a week ago, I didn't have any idea what it was either.  😂I actually had to work on my pronunciation of this foreign ingredient, before I went to the grocery store so that I wouldn't look like a complete amateur.  😅 

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Despite the confidence that I had leaving the grocery store with my Sambal Oelek, when I got this jar of goodness home, I realized that most of the information on the label was written in characters that I couldn't read.  🤦🏻‍♀️What was clear, was that it's made from spicy chilies and it was H.O.T. hot. 🌶  Apparently, the chili pepper is a universal symbol for spicy.​ 

My husband is especially sensitive to spicy foods which made me a little nervous about adding it to my dish so I decided to give it a little taste test first.  I consider myself a fan of chilies and most things spicy, so I innocently put a spoon in the jar and took a generous mouthful of this new and unfamiliar condiment.  🔥 Wowza!  I think I turned 6 shades of red and downed a full glass of water before I could even speak again.  😂  

I would say that "hot" accurately describes Sambal Oelek.  But despite it's spicy nature, it's also super flavorful and I definitely didn't want to eliminate if from my recipe.  You might think that I whimped out by only adding 1/2 teaspoon instead of the recommended 2 teaspoons but I'd like to think of it as saving my taste buds from suffering.  😅

Shrimp Fried Rice
1 cup long grain white rice
8 ounces shrimp, peeled, deveined and tails removed
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 Tablespoon oyster sauce
2 teaspoons sambal oelek
1 1/2 teaspoons dry sherry
1 1/2 teaspoons ketchup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup oil
2 eggs, beaten
4 scallions, sliced
1 garlic clove
1/2 frozen peas

Bring 2 quarts water to a boil in a large saucepan.  Add rice and cook 12 minutes.  Drain in colander.

Cut shrimp into 1/2" pieces. ​ Combine 1 t. soy sauce, sugar and shrimp.

In a separate bowl, combine oyster sauce, 1 t. soy sauce, sambal oelek, sherry, ketchup, salt and pepper.​

Heat 1 T. oil in skillet.  Add shrimp and cook 1 minute.  Transfer to a bowl. 

Heat 1 T. oil in skillet.  Add eggs and stir with rubber scraper until set.  Push to the side of the skillet.  

Add 2 T. oil, scallions whites and garlic to skillet with eggs.  Cook 30 seconds. 

Add rice and cooking, stirring until rice begins to sizzle and pop.  (3 minutes)

Stir in oyster sauce mixture and peas and cook 2 minutes longer. 

Stir in shrimp and scallion greens and cook 1 minute until heated through. 

This Shrimp Fried Rice was amazing.  I had to really hold back from eating ALL of it myself.  😋  It really was THAT good.  Normally, I hesitate to invest in unfamiliar  ingredients if I don't think that I can use them in other recipes but at less than  $2.00 - this one was definitely worth a try.

Ciao!

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