Chive Buds and Shrimp

Woah, it's been one crazy month. Not much time has been spent in the kitchen... other than attempting to pack up all of my baking utensils and staple baking ingredients for the big move on JUNE 30th!!! AAAHHH I still can't believe that I'm moving to my own place by the end of this month!! In a way I'm super excited, but in other ways I'm completely stressing about how I'm going to adjust to living on my stoney-lonesome :( I'm gonna miss the random noises that my silly sisters make, the crazy daily conversations with my mom and dad and especially the yappy barking of my little doggie.

It's not like I'm moving too far away, in fact my condo is only about 15 minutes from my parents house if you take the highway. I suppose that sooner or later moving out was an inevitability but who knew that it would be the former. Anyways, amongst the chaos of cleaning up my pantry and re-arranging the cupboards of their crazy clutter I managed to whip up a simple and tasty lunch for myself. I had bought some "reduced-to-clear" chive buds from the local asian supermarket the day before today, and decided that I'd better use up the buds before they go completely limp and lifeless. So I chopped and pan-fried the chive buds, tossed in some seared shrimp and allowed the entire mixture to heat through. Mmmm, delicious and healthy... just the way I like it.

Spicy Chive Buds with Shrimp
(Yields enough for 2 servings)

- 1 tbsp canola oil
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 cup frozen shrimp, thawed
- 1/4 cup chicken stock
- 2 tbsp spicy hot-pot paste
- 4 cups chive buds, chopped into 3-inch long sticks
- 1 tbsp soy sauce

Method:
1. Heat the oil in a deep-sided, non-stick frying pan and fry up the garlic until fragrant
2. When pan is sizzling on medium-high heat, add the shrimp and sear on one side for a full minute. When cooked on one side, flip shrimp over to alternate side
3. Add in the chicken stock to help deglaze the pan, and add in the spicy hot-pot paste.
4. Continue cooking mixture over medium heat and add the chive buds. Fry up the mixture until buds are heated through, but not limp. Add soy sauce to taste and serve.

This recipe was really simple to create. I simply used the random ingredients that were inside my fridge. I wasn't quite sure how it was going to turn out, but I actually quite enjoyed the spicy, garlicy flavor. This dish will definitely be made again, especially when I have little time to cook up anything too fancy.