Prawn, Scallop & Cashew Stirfry

by Theresa
(Mt Martha)

A quick and easy to prepare stirfry.
You can vary the vegetables to those in season.

We usually use:

Baby Bok Choy quartered
1 med Onion, quartered and then 'shelled'
1 Carrot, sliced julienne
1/2 red capsicum chopped roughly
1/2 green capsicum chopped roughly
1 cup bean sprouts
Baby corn and/or water chestnuts (can use the tinned ones)
2 tsp of minced garlic
2 tsp of minced ginger
2-3 Tbs of oil - I use olive or peanut
1/2 cup roasted, unsalted cashew nuts

Seafood - depends on what you like, and you can remove or substitute what you like.
We use the frozen shelled prawns (raw or green as they get called) and scallops that are available from the bigger supermarkets in 1kg packs

Defrost these thoroughly (or use fresh if you want)

Sauce:

This is easy -
Oyster sauce is available at pretty much all supermarkets. You need about 1/4 to 1/3 cup depending on how many you're feeding
Soy sauce - dark or light about 2tbs
1 heaped tsp of cornflour


Method:

The trick here is to do this all very quickly and over a nice high heat.
Use a wok if you have one, otherwise a large saucepan will do, both need a lid

Prepare all the vegetables before you start to cook.
This is served with rice, so get that on first, most rice cookers will take about 20 mins, so time to have the rice done, or finishing as you cook.

Hea the wok/pan to nice and hot and add 2-3 Tbs of the oil.
Add the seafood and cook, it'll take about 2-4 mins depending on how hot the pan is and how much seafood you have, keep turning and tossing it - don't overload the pan, cook in batches if necessary. Remove the seafood and keep it warm - you'll only be about 5 more mins, so pop them in a warm oven.

Reheat the wok/pan again and add the remaining oil and then immediately add the garlic and ginger (this will spit a bit so make sure you stir it quickly and then add all the vegetables EXCEPT the bok choy and bean sprouts.
Continually stir these to toss them around and start the cooking. After 2-3 minutes, pour in about 1/2 cup of water and immediately cover.

This will steam the veggies and "deglaze" the wok. As this happens (about 2 mins) mix the cornflour with 2-3 tbs of water.

Remove the lid off the pan, add in the other vegetables and the seafood and stir to mix in. If necessary, add a little more water to keep the steaming going and replace the lid.

After a minute remove the lid. Add the cashew nuts and stir through, then add the Soy sauce (you can add more or less to suit your tastes - remember that soy is used as a replacement for salt so be careful how much you add!
Add the oyster sauce and stir through. You should have some liquid at the bottom of the wok/pan, if not, add a little more water. Turn the heat down and then add the cornflour water mix.

Turn/stir the whole stir fry in the wok to coat with the sauce which thickens as you do this. If it's too runny, mix up a little more corflour/water and add.

Serve immediately over the rice and dig in!