Why order out when you can make it yourself?

Have you ever craved sweet and sour shrimp so much that you decided to try creating it from scratch?

Be prepared for a pleasant surprise. We did. It worked.

It worked so well we made it again. Like most surprises, it’s easier to create than you think. The second time is even easier.

In fact, our recipe, from start to sit down, goes faster than ordering and waiting for the delivery. And you don’t have to tip.

Here goes:

3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
6 large shrimps (or 12 mediums)
1 tomato, (or tomato pasta sauce) your choice
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons vinegar
1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger (or 1 ½ teaspoon ginger powder)
2 tablespoons chopped onions
1 tablespoon corn starch

You’ll also need rice!

Boil 1 cup of rice in 1 cup of water. We used brown minute rice. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes or until you like it. Set it aside.

In a medium saucepan heat the vegetable oil. Let it get hot and then turn to simmer.

Continue to stir the mixture as you add ingredients.

Chop the shrimps in small pieces. (We like the tails, but you might not – it’s your call).  Place shrimp in saucepan. Our shrimp was frozen. We microwaved the shrimp for 1 minute.

Dice or chop the tomato into as large or small pieces as you wish. Add to saucepan.

Add sugar and vinegar to saucepan.

Chop the onion into small pieces similar in size to the tomato. Add to saucepan.

We highly recommend a fresh ginger root. Cut off a piece and peel it. Use a vegetable shredder, or knife. Shred or slice the ginger into as tiny pieces as you can. Add to saucepan.

Finally, add the corn starch.  Allow the cornstarch to set – and it will very quickly.

Remove from stove top.

At this point, we mixed the rice with the shrimp and got out the chopsticks (we used a fork).

This recipe provides three servings.

Our intention was to have three lunches from this recipe and it worked perfectly. The uneaten mixture was refrigerated for tomorrow and the next day. Simply re-heat and eat.