Eleven ingredients and twenty-seven minutes, and the pan work is under twelve of them.
The shrimp go in twice: a quick first pass to nearly opaque, then back at the end to finish in the sauce.
Why This Recipe Works
- Cooking the shrimp only to nearly opaque leaves room for the second toss.
- Twenty seconds is enough for minced garlic to soften without dissolving.
- Rice vinegar cuts a tablespoon of honey so the sauce is not simply sweet.
- Chilli-garlic sauce doubles both the heat and the garlic in one measure.
- A cornstarch slurry takes a thin pan sauce to glossy in under a minute.
Ingredient Notes
- Garlic, finely minced
- Five cloves. Minced rather than crushed or sliced, and the pieces stay visible through the finished sauce rather than disappearing into it.
- Chilli-garlic sauce
- A teaspoon. It brings heat and a second source of garlic, and it is part of what makes the sauce orange-brown rather than plain soy.
- Fresh red chile
- One small one, chopped, in with the garlic. Not named in the recipe title and clearly visible in the bowl.
- Large shrimp
- A pound, peeled and deveined with tails left on some pieces. Whole throughout — nothing is chopped.
How to Make It
Shrimp cooked to nearly opaque, then out
Heat oil in a skillet and cook shrimp quickly until nearly opaque; transfer out.
Garlic and chile, twenty seconds
Add minced garlic and red chile for 20 seconds.
The five sauce ingredients, brought to a simmer
Stir in soy sauce, honey, rice vinegar, chilli-garlic sauce, and sesame oil; bring to a simmer.
Slurry to glossy, shrimp back to fully opaque
Add cornstarch slurry and cook until glossy and orange-brown. Return shrimp and toss until fully opaque.
Parsley — and nothing under it
Finish with parsley. Serve without starch.
What the Sauce Is Actually Made Of
The Asian of the name describes the flavours in the pan, not a particular cuisine or tradition - and the flavours are best described by the ingredients themselves. So here they are, in the order they go into the pan.
The aromatics - and they stay VISIBLE
5 garlic cloves FINELY MINCED and 1 small red chile, chopped, for 20 SECONDS
Five cloves is a lot for four servings, and the cut is deliberate: MINCED, not crushed. Crushed garlic breaks down and disperses; minced pieces hold their shape, and twenty seconds is far too short to dissolve them. That is what produces the HEAVILY SCATTERED VISIBLE MINCED GARLIC - a texture rather than a flavour note, and one of the things that defines this dish. The red chile goes in at the same moment and is a visible component the title never names.
The savoury base
2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
Salt, umami and the first of the colour. Low-sodium matters at this volume - 2 tbsp reduced into a sauce for 1 lb of shrimp concentrates fast, and a regular soy would finish harsh.
Sweet and sharp, in balance
1 tbsp honey and 1 tbsp rice vinegar
Equal measures, and that equality is the point. The honey gives the sauce its gloss and body as it reduces; the vinegar keeps it from reading as a sweet glaze. One tablespoon of each rather than a sweeter ratio is what gives this sauce its sharper edge.
Heat, and a second garlic
1 tsp chilli-garlic sauce
A small measure doing two jobs at once - it deepens the heat the fresh chile started, and it adds garlic in dissolved form beneath the visible minced pieces. It also carries red pigment, which is where the sauce's ORANGE-brown comes from rather than the flat brown soy alone would give.
Aroma, last
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
A finishing oil. Its aroma is volatile, so it goes in with the other liquids rather than into a hot dry pan where it would simply cook away.
Then taste1 tsp of cornstarch slaked in 1 tbsp water, cooked UNTIL GLOSSY AND ORANGE-BROWN. Then the shrimp - which left the pan at NEARLY OPAQUE in step 1 - returned and TOSSED UNTIL FULLY OPAQUE, which is when they are done. Cooking them in two passes is what keeps a pound of shrimp from toughening while a sauce simmers and thickens around them. Then 2 tbsp parsley, and step 5: served WITHOUT STARCH.
Success Tips
- Take the shrimp out while they are still short of done; they finish in the sauce.
- Have the sauce ingredients to hand — twenty seconds of garlic goes quickly.
- Stop as soon as the sauce turns glossy; over-reduced, it coats too thickly.
Serving Ideas
Four servings in white bowls, the whole peeled shrimp in a glossy orange-brown sauce heavily scattered with visible minced garlic, red chilli pieces and chopped parsley. No rice and no noodles.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does the garlic stay visible?
Because it is minced rather than crushed and gets only twenty seconds in the pan before liquid arrives. Crushed garlic cooked longer would dissolve into the sauce.
Why cook the shrimp in two stages?
So they are not sitting in the pan while the sauce simmers and thickens. They come out at nearly opaque and go back in to finish.
Is it served over rice?
No — step 5 says without starch. The bowl is shrimp and sauce.
