Quick & Easy: Sesame-Orange Shrimp

One word describes this dish - AWESOME!

Serves - 4  /  Serving Size - 1/4 of dish
Preparation Time:  10 minutes
Cook Time:  15 minutes

3 Tblspn sesame seeds (white, black or a mix)
2 large egg whites
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt [omitted]
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 pound peeled and deveined raw shrimp (21-25 per pound)  [used frozen, cooked]
2 Tblspn canola oil, divided
3/4 cup orange juice [used 1/2 cup]
1/4 cup dry sherry [cooking sherry is high in sodium - recommended dry sherry sold with other fortified wines]
2 Tblspn reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 tsp sugar [used half packet of Stevia sugar substitute]
1 scallion, thinly sliced

1.  Whisk sesame seeds, egg whites, cornstarch, salt and pepper in a large bowl.  Add shrimp and toss to coat.

2.  Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Add half the shrimp and cook until golden, 1 to 2 minutes per side.  Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Repeat with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and the rest of the shrimp.

3.  Add orange juice, sherry, soy sauce and sugar to the pan.  Bring to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened and reduced by half, 4 to 6 minutes.  Return the shrimp to the pan and stir to coat with the sauce.  Serve immediately, with scallion sprinkled on top.

Exchange: [ not listed]
[note Nutrition Facts based on omitting salt and using only 1/2 cup orange juice]
Calories - 276                         Sodium - 584mg
   Calories from Fat - 105       Total Carbs - 14.4g   w/net carbs - 13.3g
Total Fat - 11.7g                         Dietary Fiber - 1.1g
   Saturated Fat - 1.3g                  Sugar - 4.0g
   Trans Fat - 0.0g                    Protein - 27.5g
Cholesterol - 221mg

Source: EatingWell web site @ eatingwell.com

Review/Suggestions:

• You can definitely use the frozen, cooked shrimp - another time saver.
• After thawing the shrimp, rinse and place on paper towels to pat dry.  This makes the difference in having the batter stick to the shrimp.
• In reading the other reviews on this recipe, I also learned that you need to make sure to place each shrimp in the skillet WITHOUT crowding them together otherwise they will stick together.  If your skillet is ready, as soon as you place each shrimp in, you will see the coating start to puff.  Definitely wait the 1-2 minutes and then you can turn each one without any problems.
• Because of following the suggestions above, the shrimp were really easy to work with and I didn't end up with problems like some other reviewers had [everything sticking together into one large blob.]
• Only because I happen to have just enough dry sherry for this recipe did I use it.  Otherwise, next time going to use sugar-free Cranberry juice along with the orange juice.
• By decreasing the orange juice to 1/2 cup, we went from 5.3g of sugar to 4.0g.
• If you are making this for two [I used a total of 16 shrimp], this recipe cooks up really quickly.  So if serving with rice, make sure to start it first otherwise your shrimp will be done before your rice.