Healthy Asparagus and Shrimp Stir-fry

If you had several days of full menus with dessert this past weekend like I did, you may welcome a healthy, quick, and simple recipe to start your week!

We often think that healthy goes hand and hand with tasteless and boring, which can happen when paring down recipes to a few ingredients.  I promise you that this recipe does not fall in that category!  This is a full flavored dish thanks to the addition of ginger, scallions, garlic, and sriracha sauce.

I saw this recipe on Norma’s Garden to Wok blog and after a few weeks of the image of fresh asparagus and shrimp creeping in my mind, as well as a heavy food-filled weekend, I had to try it. We were Ooooing and Ahhhing after a few bites of this flavorful, yummy stir-fry. It tasted better than my local “go to” Chinese restaurant!

Asparagus season is still going strong. Hurry, go buy fresh asparagus now!

Norma shows her original recipe, and notes the ingredients she modified (no sugar, less oil).  I plan on only using the modified recipe, and this is how my version developed.

Healthy Asparagus and Shrimp Stir-fry

• 1 pound of shrimp, cleaned; peeled, deveined, pat dried with paper towels
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

Combine the above well.

• 1- 1 1/2 asparagus, peeled (see instructions here if you would like), and slant cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 3 scallions, smash white part with the flat of your knife, and cut 2 inch pieces of the whole scallion
• 1 thumb sized piece of fresh ginger peeled, smashed and lightly chopped
• 4 garlic cloves peeled and minced
• 4 dashes (more if you like it spicier) of Asian chili sauce – I used Sriracha
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons oil
• 1 1/4 cups chicken broth
• 1 Tablespoon of cornstarch mixed with 2 Tablespoons of water

In a medium preheated pan or wok, add 2 teaspoons of oil. Add scallion, ginger and garlic. Stir-fry until garlic is lightly browned. Add chicken broth, one tablespoon at a time to prevent burning.

Turn up heat to high and add shrimp.  Stir-fry until cooked, and add tablespoons of broth as needed to prevent from burning. Remove shrimp.  You can also remove the spices, but I kept mine in the pan.

Add asparagus, and stir-fry (about 3-5 minutes) with the salt and chili sauce . Continue to add tablespoons of broth as needed to the pan.

Return shrimp to pan, and add remaining broth and bring to a slight boil. Add the cornstarch mixture to thicken the sauce.

Asparagus dances with shrimp

Take a bite. It’s so delicious!

Stir fried in broth and paired with rice

It feels good to get back on track with a healthy dish after a munch out weekend!

What is your back on track favorite meal?