Orange and Garlic Shrimp and Veggies

This stir fry of crisp vegetables and succulent shrimp looks impressive, and is so flavorful, but comes together in minutes! I love making this for dinner because it’s so satisfying, yet doesn’t leave me feeling weighed down!

I can’t stand throwing out food and will always try to find a way to repurpose all of the odd bits in my fridge. So when I needed orange zest for another recipe, I couldn’t bear throwing away all of that delicious fresh juice, and decided that its purpose would best be served in a luscious orange sauce to go with sautéed shrimp! It’s sweet, tangy and savory and is perfect in a stir fry with crisp veggies!

Here’s what you need for the sauce:

How to make Orange and Garlic Sauce:

First, use a microplane to grate the garlic or mince it very well.

Add it to a pot with the juice, vinegar, soy, sesame oil, honey and chili paste. Simmer the sauce for a few minutes to marry the flavors. While it’s simmering, make a slurry with with the cornstarch by stirring it with a little water. When the sauce has reduced a little, add the slurry and continue to simmer until it thickens up.

Use any veggies you prefer for the stir fry.

This dish is a great way to use up any random veggies you have hanging out in the fridge. You could use whatever you like such as mushrooms, sliced carrots, broccoli, cabbage, etc…

The same goes for the proteins. This sauce is great with chicken, pork, beef, etc… Or just make it a veggie stir-fry!

Here’s what I use for the stir fry:

Be prepared!

Have all of your veggies prepped before turning on the stove to prevent any panic prepping later on while cooking. This dish does come together quite quickly once you begin.

Julienne the pepper and onion into quarter-inch slices.

For the zucchini, I like to cut it in half lengthwise, (or quarter it, if it’s a very large zucchini,) Then slice it along the bias. This way, more of the flesh comes into contact with the surface of the pan to brown.

How to assemble the dish.

Start by toasting the sesame seeds for a couple minutes in a dry pan until they are golden and fragrant. Remove them from the pan to be used later.

Your pan must be hot before cooking the vegetables.

Add a little oil to a large pan that has a lot of surface area and wait until the oil begins to smoke before tossing in the vegetables. Add the peppers and onions first. Spread them out evenly so they each come in contact with the surface of the pan. Wait a minute before stirring, so they have time to get a little charred.

Once they are browned and slightly tender, scoot them far to the side and add the zucchini and peas. Just like the peppers and onions, spread them out as evenly as possible so they each have contact with the hot pan and wait a minute before stirring so they can get a nice char as well.

Combine all the vegetables and make room for the shrimp.

Add shrimp and season with a little salt.

The sauce is very savory but the shrimp and vegetables need just a little bit of seasoning themselves. I normally would add salt earlier in the cooking process, but in this case, I want the vegetables to char. If they are seasoned with salt at first, the salt would cause them to sweat. This would introduce too much moisture to the pan and steam the vegetables instead of brown them.

Finally add the sauce and give it a good toss to make sure everything is coated. Turn off the heat and it is ready to go! Serve this with some simple steamed rice and sprinkle with the toasted sesame seeds.

Other recipes to try:

• Chilled Noodle Salad with Sesame Dressing
• Korean Barbecue Glazed Salmon