CHINESE STUFFED PEPPERS

INGREDIENTS

• Shrimp
• Peppers (Bell or Long Hot Peppers)
• Salt
• Sugar
• White Pepper
• Cornstarch
• Sesame Oil
• Cooking Wine
• Light Soy Sauce
• Black Bean Paste
• Oyster Sauce

Growing up, my family ate a lot of stuffed peppers, eggplant, and tofu. From homemade by my parents and grandparents to grabbing from the carts at Dim Sum, I would always satisfy myself with their deliciousness. Each family has its own recipe, but they are all delicious to me or 好食 (which in Cantonese means tasty). My mom usually cooked this dish for us, but sometimes my dad would take over the role. I haven’t made this dish before, but I would watch my parents prepare and cook the peppers. Even at eighteen, this dish is still one of my favorite foods. It just carries that nostalgic feeling for me without being complex.

I haven’t put the specific amounts for each ingredient as it varies for how much you are making and how savory you want to make it. Let’s work on the filling first. Take your shrimp and start cleaning and peeling them. Don’t forget to get rid of the poop sack so you don’t get the bitter taste! After prepping the shrimp, start smashing them so it forms a paste. Depending on how fine you want the paste, you can smash it longer. Next, you can start prepping the marinate for the filling. In a bowl or whatever dish you want, put salt, sugar, white pepper, cornstarch, and water. The amounts vary on the amount of filling you prepared but make sure it is enough. Add the shrimp paste in and mix until it absorbs the marinade and becomes sticky. After mixing, add some sesame oil. Put the paste in the fridge to chill while you’re preparing the peppers. Take your peppers and cut them depending on how big you want your peppers. You can keep the seeds if you like your food to be spicy. Sprinkle some cornstarch on your peppers and take out your filling from the fridge. Scoop a generous amount of filling and make sure it sticks inside of the pepper. Keep repeating and when done, you can work on the sauce. In another bowl, stir together black bean paste, oyster sauce, light soy sauce, sugar, cornstarch, and water (don’t add too much of the black bean paste and oyster sauce as these are really savory and can overpower the dish). Now, here comes the fun part, the cooking! Grab a flat pan that is decently sized. Heat the pan up and add oil when it’s hot enough. Put the peppers in, filling side down. Once they’re all in, cover the pan with a lid and wait for the filling to firm up. After the filling becomes golden brown, you can start flipping the peppers to the other side. Put some cooking wine in and put the lid back on. After a minute, you can turn off the heat. Next, pour the sauce you made earlier into a separate pan and start cooking it. Keep stirring gently while cooking to prevent lumps. After it’s done cooking, turn off the heat and you can start plating the peppers with the sauce. Now, you can enjoy the food you put your hard work in!