There are some dishes I crave more than others, and Chinese shrimp and broccoli is one of them. But it’s really quite easy to make it at home, and it’s surprisingly low in calories if you’re really careful with the amount of oil you use. Oil is the biggest culprit when it comes to calories in Chinese cooking.
Second on the list of calorie culprits is rice. It looks innocent enough, but a cup of rice has 170 calories, and if you’re limiting yourself to a daily calorie count of 1500, like I am, that becomes pretty significant.
The good news is that shrimp is actually one of the lowest calorie foods you can buy, checking in at only 1 calorie per gram. Broccoli is also low in calories, so if you skip the rice, you can really eat your fill of this delicious dish.
I’ve come up with what I call my “Asian Mix,” which is a combination of five ingredients commonly found in the supermarket in the Asian food section. Add these to your shrimp and broccoli, and you will never need to leave home for really good Chinese food!
Asian Mix…
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
1 teaspoon rice vinegar (unseasoned)
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon chili garlic sauce
Combine these ingredients in a bowl, mixing well. Set aside.
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 or 2 large heads broccoli, chopped into smaller, similar-sized pieces
1 lb. wild-caught American shrimp, peeled and deveined
Asian Mix, as listed above
peanut oil
I prefer peanut oil when cooking Asian dishes.
Heat a non-stick pan and add 1 tablespoon of peanut oil to it. Add the chopped onion, and cook until translucent.
Add the chopped garlic and stir for about 10 seconds.
Add the chopped broccoli and cook until the broccoli turns bright green but stays crunchy.
Empty the pan out into a bowl and, without wiping the pan down, add the shrimp to the pan (no more oil!), returning it to the heat. Let the shrimp heat in the hot pan for 30–60 seconds on one side, then flip the shrimp over and let them heat through for 30–60 seconds on the other side. That’s all you need to cook them, unless they’re really large. Just keep flipping them until they’re pink and firm, but don’t overcook them.
Remove the pan from the heat, and add a tablespoon of the Asian Mix to the shrimp, tossing them around to coat them with it. Don’t let them burn!
Now bring back the onions, garlic, and broccoli to the shrimp in the pan, tossing everything together, and adding more of the Asian Mix until everything is nicely coated.
Serve immediately…over rice or not!
Live the Live ™ 