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I know many of my readers are outside of China, and it can be hard to find groceries, let alone restaurant food, similar to what I ate in Beijing even in a relatively China-friendly place like Seattle. For this reason, I decided it would be worth a how-to series on cooking Chinese food in a place without much grocery variety. I’m no Chinese cooking expert, but I cooked stir-fried broccoli, egg fried rice, and cashew shrimp at my family’s vacation home in rural Maine, a place known for its natural beauty and lobster but not its Chinese food.

I was originally going to do videos for this how-to but it seemed too daunting so maybe I’ll eventually add in pictures after I make these dishes next. It’s easier to refer to text while you’re cooking, anyway, right?

Note: I don’t include a wok in this because I’m better at stir-frying in frying pans than woks. If you have questions on how to adapt this recipe to a wok, then ask away in the comments section.

Added February 6, 2011 after I cooked this at a dinner party.

Cashew shrimp (腰果虾仁):
1/2 cup of each main ingredient uncooked serves 2-3 people as part of a larger meal

You’ll need (roughly equal parts of top five):
medium or large shrimp, cooked, with tails removed
cucumber (English-style is best)
celery
carrot
roasted cashews, preferably unsalted
canola or corn oil (1.5-2 tablespoons)
table salt
water
deep-ish frying pan and cover

1. Completely thaw shrimp if frozen.
2. Peel cucumber and carrot. Remove leaves from celery.
3. Chop carrot and celery at an approximately 45-degree angle in pieces of approximately a 1/4-inch thick. If you have an especially thick carrot, you might want to cut it in half lengthwise before chopping.
4.  Chop the cucumber into 1/4-inch thick discs. If your cucumber is English style cut each disc in half to form two half-discs. If your cucumber is American style (thicker) cut in half twice to form four quarter-discs.
5. Pour oil into pan then turn on medium-high to heat the oil.
6. Add celery and carrot, stir to coat in oil, lightly sprinkle salt over whole pan,  add water to pan until carrots and celery are almost covered, then cover pan for approximately 2 minutes. (The heat will be high enough if the water is boiling before you cover it.)
7. Uncover pan to check to see if ingredients are sufficiently cooked. They should not be mushy but soft enough to easily cut through the center of with a metal spatula. Add water as necessary to keep from burning.
8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 with cashews and cucumber, in that order.
9. Turn heat to low or off. Add shrimp and stir until shrimp are the same temperature as the rest of the ingredients but not cooking enough to become tough or smaller in size.
10. Season with salt to taste.
11. Serve immediately on a plate or in a shallow, wide bowl with oil from pan. Serve with small bowls of plain white rice or as part of a family-style Chinese meal. Easiest to eat with chopsticks but possible to eat with a fork or spoon.

I know this dish is made in a lot of different ways. Feel free to comment with questions or suggestions for improvement.