Cantonese Style Stir-fried Seafood

Now for the real post, I was a little tired yesterday so threw up the cannoli post real quick.

Every so often, Whole Foods has Mexican Bay Scallops on sale as one of their weekly buys. Being a scallop fan, I always pick up some for one of my favorite seafood dishes, a Cantonese stir fry with some oyster sauce. I also like to toss in shrimp and some fish (a fish that stays together well when stir fried) but I only bought additional shrimp for this meal.

One thing about Chinese cooking is that the actual cooking takes about 10-15 minutes usually. However, the preparation time can be long! I've spent over an hour chopping things just for fried rice! And fried rice takes 5 minutes to cook!

Anyway, this is one of the quicker recipes I've tried, after marinating the seafood, everything else gets thrown in quickly :)

I've listed the mushrooms as optional, they're mentioned in the recipe but I'm not a huge fan of them, so I don't use them :)

Cantonese Style Stir-fried Seafood

Serves 4-6 with rice
Ingredients:
1 lb bay scallops
1/2 lb medium shrimp (heads removed, deveined, chopped)
5 tbsp canola oil
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 to 1 inch piece of ginger, grated (Or: slice about 6 pieces of ginger and peel)
4 scallions, chopped and separated
4-6 celery stalks, sliced
1/2 lb snow peas, ends removed
2 tbsp Shaohsing wine or sherry
1 tsp sesame oil

Marinade:
1 tsp white pepper
2 tsp cornstarch
2 egg white, lightly beaten (save the yolks)

Sauce:
1/2 tsp corn starch
1 tsp water
1/4 tsp salt
2-3 tbsp oyster sauce

Optional:
Chinese mushrooms

Method
1. Wash the scallops and shrimp. Slice each shrimp into 3-4 pieces, the bay scallops are small enough they don't need to be sliced. Mix the marinade with the seafood. Set aside for 10 minutes. Slice the veggies in the meanwhile
2. Prepare the sauce and set aside.
3. Heat a wok over high heat. Add 2 1/2 tbsp oil and swirl.
4. Add half the garlic, half the ginger, and half the white scallions, let sizzle.
5. Add the seafood and use a spatula to turn and toss the seafood for about a minute. Splash 1 tbsp of the Shaohsing wine around the seafood. You want the seafood lightly cooked on either side.
6. Remove the seafood, set aside. Add the rest of the oil with the garlic, ginger, and white scallions to the wok. Add the rest of the wine or sherry as well as the celery and snow peas. Toss for a minute.
7. Add the seafood back in along with the sauce (I also add the two egg yolks as well), toss for another minute or so to continue cooking the seafood.
8. Add the green scallions, give another few tosses with the spatula and remove from the heat. Add some sesame oil to enhance the flavor.