I saw these fiesty shrimp jumping around in one of the many live seafood tanks at the nearby 99 Ranch Market and I had to take them home with me. Not only were they fresh and definitely alive, they were only $4.99/lb! Shrimp and prawns are one of my husband's favorite foods and if you know anything about the price of live prawns, you know that they are pretty pricey. The Santa Barbara Spot Prawns in a nearby tank were over $20/lb. This peaked my curiosity even more about these wildly affordable underwater acrobats, so I bought a pound, brought them home and did a little research. Apparently we don't see these shrimp around often because their shells are a bit harder and more abbrasive than regular shrimp AND they have this enzyme that causes them to turn an unattractive bruised color when they die so they have to be kept alive. Despite these cons, one big pro is their tasty sweet meat, something between a large crawfish and small lobster. Excited to try them out, I rinsed them with some water and decided on a simple quick braise preparation.
*Note: I wasn't joking when I say they jump! When you bring them home, make sure you place them in some water in a large and deep enough bowl to contain some 6-10 inch jumps.
Julienne a couple ounces of fresh ginger and a couple stalks of scallions. Heat a couple teaspoons of cooking oil in a large saucepan that has a lid. Toss the ginger and scallions (reserve some of the green portion of the scallions for garnish) into the sauce pan and cook for about a minute then put the shrimp in the pan and drizzle with about a tablespoon of soy sauce, a couple tablespoons of rice wine, and cover.
Turn to low heat and let them simmer for only about 5 minutes or until they curl and turn a bright red. DO NOT OVER COOK!
Plate and serve immediately with some of the sauce drizzled on and topped with the reserved julienned scallions. DELISH!
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