Creamy Shrimp & Octopus Rice Bowl
New year, new resolutions- I really want to conquer some of the basics of Asian cuisine and learn how to incorporate Asian ingredients/flavors into my recipes. For some reason it's always been outside of my comfort zone, even though Asian cuisine is one of my favorite when eating out. Now I finally got enough courage to give it a go. Wednesdays are our pasta seafood nights at home and for a change, I though why not to use sushi rice instead of pasta and my usual choice of seafood- shrimp, octopus combination!? To make a spicy, fragrant sauce I used finely grated fresh ginger, hot red finger pepper, lots of garlic and new to me but absolutely awesome culinary herb, lemongrass. It has nothing to do with lemons but if you pound on its thick stalk and then chop it finely, it releases lemony notes when cooked at high heat. I sautéed these aromatics with thinly sliced leek and then added rock shrimp, sweeter, smaller species of prawn, which is sold already peeled and ready for use. If you can't find it, buy wild-caught large shrimp, peel, devein it and cut each prawn into three pieces. Usually i cook my own octopus but lately, I've been buying a fully-cooked octopus tentacles at Citarella on UWS in NYC. So for this recipe, you just have to slice it somewhat thinly and add to the shrimp last minute just to heat it through. And for the sauce, if you like all things sour cream, go for it. I added three tablespoons at the end of cooking to make my creamy, delicious sauce. Top it all of with orange zest and a little bit of freshly squeezed juice to bright it all up and serve seafood hot over sushi rice bowl. To garnish, sprinkle toasted sesame seeds, tiny fresh basil leaves and thinly sliced hot red pepper if you like spicy!
Ingredients: sushi rice, rock shrimp, cooked octopus tentacles, leek, ginger, lemongrass, garlic, hot red pepper, basil, orange, sour cream, olive oil, salt, toasted sesame seeds.
Slice off the leek's dark green end. Cut the leek in half lengthwise and run it under cold running water, sometimes it traps dirt inside. Dry it and slice into thin half moons.
Slice hot red pepper thinly.
Peel and grate ginger.
Peel garlic cloves, then cut each clove in half and remove a green stem inside, it adds bitter taste to food and from what I know it shouldn't be consumed. Mince garlic cloves, set aside.
Slice octopus tentacles into 1/8-inch pieces.
Heat a large wide-sided sauté pan over medium heat; pour a dash of oil, add leeks and lemon grass, season with salt. Sauté for 3-4 minutes, stirring often.
Then add ginger, half of hot red pepper slices, garlic and harissa sauce, stirring to combine the ingredients, sauté for one minute longer. If the pan gets too dry, add just a dash of oil. Don't worry if ginger sticks to the pan a little.
Then add shrimp and season it well with salt, sauté with the rest of ingredients for about 4 minutes, or until shrimp is almost cooked.
Add octopus and cook for another 2 minutes just to heat it through.
Add sour cream and basil leaves and stir until sour cream is mixed with seafood and the sauce has a creamy consistency.
Turn off the heat, add orange zest and squeeze half an orange into the pan.
To serve, scoop rice into bowls, top with creamy seafood, garnish with fresh basil leaves, the rest of hot red pepper slices and sesame seeds. Enjoy hot!
Bon Appétit!Svitlana
Creamy shrimp & octopus rice bowl
recipe details
Serves 4Ingredients
- 1 cup sushi rice, cooked
- 1 lb. rock shrimp or wild-caught large shrimp
- 1 lb. cooked octopus (2 large tentacles)
- 1 leek, thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon lemongrass, pounded and finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons ginger, grated
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon harissa or sriracha sauce
- 5 large basil leaves
- 3-4 tablespoons sour cream
- Olive oil
- Salt
- 1 orange, zested
- 8-10 tiny basil leaves
- 1 hot red pepper, thinly sliced, divided in half
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
Directions
- For the seafood: If using wild-caught large shrimp- peel and devein it with a small sharp knife, by making a shallow slit down the middle of the back to expose the black intestine. Lift it up with knife's tip and discard. Cut shrimp into three pieces. If using rock shrimp, just go through it and lift up the black vein where present. Slice octopus tentacles into 1/8-inch pieces.
- Heat a large wide-sided sauté pan over medium heat; pour a dash of oil, add leeks and lemon grass, season with salt. Sauté for 3-4 minutes, stirring often. Then add ginger, garlic, half of hot red pepper and harissa sauce, stir to combine the ingredients and sauté one minute longer. If the pan gets too dry, add just a dash of oil. Then add shrimp and season it well with salt, sauté with the rest of ingredients for about 4 minutes, or until shrimp is almost cooked. Add octopus and cook for another 2 minutes just to heat it through. Add sour cream and basil leaves and stir until sour cream is mixed with seafood and the sauce has a creamy consistency. Turn off the heat, add orange zest and squeeze half an orange into the pan.
- To serve, scoop rice into bowls, top with creamy seafood, garnish with fresh basil leaves, hot red pepper and sesame seeds. Enjoy hot!
What a fabulous recipe 🙂 I love all food …but have a very soft spot for Asian cuisine. This recipe and pictures look absolutely divine. I look forward trying it 🙂 …..Svitochka, I can’t find that Harissa sauce (Nina) you have mentioned in a few recipes; debating if I should try and order one online?
Thank you so much and play with the amount of sour cream in this recipe, if you want creamier consistency, add 4 tablespoons. I absolutely love the harissa sauce, it is chunky and spicy, if decide to use it, test with 1 teaspoon first. My family, including Vivian, we like things on a spicy side:))). I find it at Whole Foods most of the time, but check Amazon as well. If you like sriracha sauce, it can be a good substation.
Thank you once again for the beautiful recipe, Svitlana 🙂 I made it last night with only a few changes: used Jasmine rice instead of sushi rice and omitted the octopus (unfortunately my man isn’t a big fan of it…I love octopus, so more for me 🙂 Also, I’ve added 4T of sour cream and a tiny splash of water. The sauce was fantastic! I loved the hint of orange zest, it added a very vibrant taste to the dish. Definitely will be making it again. Thank you for sharing!!!!! Cheers!
So very welcome!:)) It’s amazing that you are so confident in the kitchen, I always promote that & encourage people to put their own spin on my recipes. I meant to write in the introduction to the post that one can omit octopus (it’s hard to find sometimes, especially cooked) and that another great alternative is calamari, cut into rings and cooked with shrimp together. The orange does bring beautiful, refreshing notes to the sauce, i am glad you liked it!Cheers!!!