As you may know, last week I was very excited about trying a recent Cooking Light Magazine recipe of Spicy Shrimp Noodle Soup.  Even though, the ingredients  tasted “OK”, the flavors didn’t meld and I was disappointed after all that work in the kitchen.  Hence, my hubby’s need to find a similar recipe that included many of the same ingredients but would have that depth of seasoning we was looking for. Success!  Cooking Light redeemed themselves with Sweet and Spicy Shrimp with Rice Noodles from the August 2012 issue.

Now this recipe lives up to its name “Spicy”, so if you follow the directions as I have listed, be prepared for a wonderful tingly sensation of heat 🙂  My kind of food!  However, if you want to have a little less heat, it would be suggested you reduce the amount of hot peppers in the recipe to meet your taste satisfaction.

Since this recipe was from a year and 1/2 ago, it did have some reviews that we took under consideration.  One being that there wasn’t enough sauce, so when we made it, we doubled the sauce and the recipe below will indicate that.  Also, we could not find Thai chile peppers, so we used 2 Serrano peppers since they are not as hot as the Thai chile peppers and it turned out to be a nice substitute.  We also seeded the peppers and removed the pulp.

The recipe reflects our changes to the original recipe….

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 5 teaspoons honey
• 2 tablespoon sambal oelek (ground fresh chile paste, we easily found this at Ingles!)
• 2tablespoon lower-sodium soy sauce
• 12 ounces peeled and deveined medium shrimp
• 4 ounces uncooked flat rice noodles (pad thai noodles)
• 1 tablespoon peanut oil
• 2 tablespoons chopped unsalted cashews
• 1 tablespoon thinly sliced garlic
• 2 teaspoons chopped peeled fresh ginger
• 1 green Thai chile or 2 Serrano peppers, halved
• 12 sweet mini peppers, halved
• 3/4 cup matchstick-cut carrot
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup snow peas, trimmed
• 3/4 cup fresh bean sprouts

Directions

Combine first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add shrimp to vinegar mixture; toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes.

Cook noodles according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain. Rinse with cold water; drain. Heat a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. We were looking for a blistered texture to our Serrano peppers so we did this next step a little differently than the original recipe.  Add the chile/serrano peppers to the pan and stir-fry for one minute, then press down with the spatula to get the skin of the pepper well-cooked. Add cashews, garlic, ginger, and chile to pan; stir-fry 1 minute or until garlic begins to brown. Remove cashew mixture from pan with a slotted spoon, and set aside.

Increase heat to high. Add sweet peppers, carrot, and salt to pan; stir-fry 2 minutes.

Add shrimp mixture (do not drain); stir-fry 2 minutes. Stir in noodles and peas; cook 1 minute, tossing to coat. Return cashew mixture to pan. Add bean sprouts; cook 1 minute or until thoroughly heated, tossing frequently.  (Note:  it is very important you stick to the time directions once you put the shrimp in, or it will overcook.0

Plate and serve with some steamed dumplings and you have a delicious Thai meal at home!  Everyone will be impressed!

Bottom Line:  We LOVED this!  It was the perfect combination of shrimp, vegetable, noodles, and sauce.  The flavors were bold and fresh; a definite keeper!  I have a little left so today I’m going to take a small whole wheat tortilla and put these delightful leftovers in a wrap for lunch…YUMMY!