In most cases I plan what I am going to prepare for dinner and shop accordingly in advance, but for tonight I wanted to finish some leftovers I had in my fridge and created this dish. I had some Chinese cabbage (also known as Napa cabbage), shrimp stock, shrimp and shiitake mushrooms. I thought this would go nicely with some rice noodles and some Asian style seasoning: fresh chile pepper, shallot, garlic, ginger, and lemongrass.  I took photos just in case it turned out well, and it did! It only needed a bit of lime juice and a bit of soy sauce, then it was delicious. The shrimp stock provides great depth of flavor and the combination of ingredients works well. Here’s what I did…

Ingredients

For 2 servings

400 grams (.9 lb) Chinese cabbage/Napa cabbage

200 grams (.44 lb) shiitake mushrooms

500 ml (2 cups) shrimp stock*

10 jumbo shrimp

125 grams (4.5 oz) rice stick noodles

1 Tbsp sliced shallot

1 Tbsp sliced ginger

1 Tbsp sliced lemongrass

1 Tbsp sliced garlic

1 Tbsp sliced red chile pepper

2 Tbsp soy sauce

2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice

4 Tbsp vegetable oil

*If you don’t have leftover shrimp stock in your freezer, you can make it by buying shrimp with heads and shell still on, peeling them, sauteing the heads and shells in a bit of oil and then simmering them in 500 ml (2 cups) of water for 20 minutes.

Preparation

Put the shrimp stock in a saucepan and bring to a boil, then turn off the heat.

Add the rice stick noodles and allow them to soften in the hot shrimp stock.

Slice the ingredients for the seasoning paste.

Put in a blender…

…and blend until smooth, adding a bit of vegetable oil if needed.

Cut the cabbage into ribbons and slice the shiitake mushrooms, removing the stems first.

Heat the vegetable oil in a wok. Add the shrimp, cook them briefly on both sides, and remove them with a slotted spoon. Reserve.

Add the seasoning paste to the oil and cook for a minute or so.

Add the shiitake and stir-fry for a minute or so.

Add the cabbage and stir-fry for a minute or so.

Add a few ladles of the shrimp stock and cook until the mushrooms are tender.

By now, the noodles should have softened.

Add the noodles and the stock to the wok.

Add the soy sauce and lime juice. Toss to mix. Taste and adjust the seasoning to your preference.

Add the shrimp just to heat them through.

Serve immediately on warm plates.

Flashback

Linguine with scampi, scallops, zucchini, and fresh tomatoes is a great summer dish when zucchini and tomatoes are at their best. Just like todays dish, it gets a lot of its flavor from the scampi stock.