Cellophane noodles with shrimp, hijiki and shiitake

1/3 of a package (a bundle) of Bean Thread Cellophane Noodles
1 TBS of dried Hijiki sea vegetable
4 tops of fresh shiitake mushrooms sliced thinly
1 large green onion sliced thinly both green and white parts (separate green from white)
4 raw Jumbo (21/25) shrimp peeled,deveined and butterflied (3oz) - you can use Large shrimp to make 3 oz
1 tsp of Olive Oil
1 TBS of Annie Chun's Shiitake Soy Ginger sauce
1/4 cup of Sake

A few notes about the material:

Cellophane noodles are a Thai/Vietnam stable and are made of Adzuki beans. In Asia they are considered "diet" noodles, because they contain no fat and no salt. You can find them in most supermarkets in the Asian section.

Hijiki is a Japanese sea vegetable. Traditionally used by itself in a salad with carrots, tofu and sesame. It has a very mild taste and is a great substitute of high salt soy sauce or fish sauce in a stir fry or a soup. It is available in the Asian section of some supermarkets, in Asian groceries and by mail order

Shiitake mushrooms are available fresh in most supermarkets. You could use dry and reconstitute them, but you would probably have to use the whole package, making that cost prohibiting.

In traditional Japanese cuisine, unlike Western cuisines, meat, poultry and fish are never eaten without pretreatment (this is the purpose of the soy sauce and washabi in sushi) because, their palate does not like the "gaminess". In this recipe I am soaking the shrimp in sake and green onions, instead of mirin and soy sauce, which add a lot of sodium. Sake, a Japanese rice "wine", like any other alcohol, loses its alcohol (evaporates) in stir fry cooking.

Here are the instructions:

Boil some water in a tea kettle, place a non-stick wok or a large chef's pan of a boiler

Thinly slice a large green onion, both green and white parts, separating green with white

Peel, de-vein and butterfly 3oz of shrimp (4 jumbo) and soak the shrimp in a small bowl with 1/c sake, and the white parts of the green onions

Soak one tablespoon of hijiki in a small ball of cold water. Make sure you use as much water as possible because hijiki about triples in volume

Soak a bundle of cellophane (bean thread) noodles in a large bowl with boiling water

All 3 items should be soaked in room temperature for about 10 minutes.

Cut the stems off the fresh shiitake mushrooms and slice the tops in very thin pieces.

Once the 10 minutes pass, add a tsp of extra virgin olive oil on the pan and turn to medium/high.

Drain the sake from the shrimp (keep the onions) and add them to the pan. Add the mushrooms. Stir fry until the shrimp is cooked (about 2 minutes). Remove the shrimp.

Stir fry the mushrooms an additional 2 minutes

Drain and add the noodles. Stir fry for one minute, making sure that the mushrooms are mixed with the noodles. At this point the noodles will take on a brownish color, by picking the shiitake juices.

Add the green part of the onions. Drain the hijiki and add it to the pan. Make sure they are equally mixed with the noodles. Stir fry for one minute.

Add a TBS of Annie Chun's Shiitake Soy Ginger sauce. (available in select markets and on line), stir fry for 30 seconds and make sure that the sauce is equally spread.

Add the cooked shrimp. Stir fry for an additional minute.

Plate in a bowl and enjoy with chopsticks (or a fork if you prefer)

Number of Servings: 1

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user E_JUST_E.