Spicy Shrimp Fried Rice

This is another winning recipe from Gina's Skinny Recipes (www.skinnytaste.com). That girl is good! The only issue I have with the recipe is that it was sorta, well... wrong. The ingredients didn't match the cooking instructions. The ingredient list doesn't include paprika, chili powder, and some other spices; however, those spices are included in the instructions without the measurements. So I kiiinda overdid it with those ones and Mike and I almost burned our tongues out of our mouths. Note to self: A little bit o' chili powder and red pepper flakes go a loooong way. Luckily I Googled 'How to cool down spicy food' and found a secret weapon that I added and made the rice edible.

Clearly I need to take a class in food photography

WW Points Plus: 8 per serving (1/4 of the recipe)

Ingredients:

• 3 cups brown rice cooked
• 1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined (peeled weight is .75 lb)
• 2 egg whites, scrambled
• 1 whole egg, scrambled
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, diced
• 5 scallions, chopped, whites and greens separated
• oil spray
• 1 tbsp sesame oil with cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (or more to taste)
• 4 tsp soy sauce (or more to taste)
• 1 tsp Asian fish sauce - I didn't have this, so I just omitted it. Bet it would be even better with.
• salt and fresh pepper

Gina's Instructions:
In a bowl, season shrimp with cayenne pepper, chili powder, paprika, salt, pepper and garlic powder. (<-- Huh? Those aren't in the list. I'd say use 1/2 tsp of each.)

Scramble eggs with a drop of water and season with salt and pepper. In a hot wok, spray a little oil and cook the eggs. When cooked, remove from pan and set aside.

Let the wok get really hot. Add sesame oil and saute onions, scallion whites, garlic and hot pepper flakes for about 1-2 minutes. Add shrimp and saute until no longer translucent. Add rice and cooked egg along with soy sauce and fish sauce, mixing well for about 2 minutes. Add greens of the scallions and serve.

Can I just say that I love having green onions growing in my yard? Have I said this already? lovelovelove.

Oh! Almost forgot... The secret ingredient for cooling down superspicy food after it's already cooked:

Worked like a charm and you couldn't taste the honey. Genius! You're welcome. :)   Or did you know that already?

My Attempt at Thai Fried Rice

Gina's Skinny Recipes site (http://www.skinnytaste.com/) makes me drool when I go through it looking for recipes. I love her site because she lists WW PointsPlus for each recipe and includes pictures. Her thai friend rice recipe was no exception to the drool rule. Look at that!

But... I didn't have the necessary ingredients and subbing things in didn't really work. Add the fact that I didn't cook the jasmine rice right (How DO you get rice to be dry and not sticky??) and you get something that turns out suspiciously like the chicken fried rice I made about a month ago. Oh well. I'm willing to try again if I can get my hands on some fish sauce and thai chili peppers and also learn how to make the rice not be so (hate this word) moist.

Here's the recipe anyway as I 'interpreted' it. (Click this link http://www.skinnytaste.com/2008/09/thai-fried-rice-575-pts.html  for the actual recipe that should be followed):

(Yeah, not exactly the same look as Gina's, huh? Why is it so pale?)

Servings: 4 • Serving Size: 1/4th • Points+: 8 pts
Calories: 320.8 • Fat: 7.0 g • Carb: 43.9 g • Fiber: 2.5 g • Protein: 20.2 g
Ingredients:

• 8 oz chicken breast, cut in small cubes
• 3 cups jasmine rice, cooked
  
• 1/2 large onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 scallions, chopped
• 3 egg whites, scrambled
• 1 whole egg, scrambled
  
• 2 tomatoes, sliced
• 4 tsp vegetable oil
• 4 tsp soy sauce (or more to taste)
  
• 2 tsp fish stir fry sauce (found at the seafood counter where Old Bay is found)
• Dash of lemon juice (I read that this plus soy sauce mimics fish sauce taste)
• salt and pepper

Instructions:
Prepare rice ahead of time according to package instructions. Gina says that it's best if it's made slightly on the dry side, but not sure how to make that happen.

Heat a wok on a high flame. Meanwhile, season chicken with salt and pepper. When the wok is very hot, add 2 tsp oil. When the oil gets hot, add the chicken and cook on high a few minutes, tossing so that its browns all over. (Oops, didn't brown it) Remove chicken from wok and set aside, add the eggs and salt and cook a minute or two until done. Set aside.

Add the remaining oil to the wok and add the onion, scallions and garlic. Saute 1 minute, add tomatoes and stir in all the rice. Add soy sauce, lemon juice and fish stir fry sauce and stir to mix all the ingredients. Keep stirring a few minutes, then add egg and chicken back to the wok. Adjust soy sauce if needed and stir well another 30 seconds.