Recipe: Chinese stir fried baby asparagus with scallops and king prawns

Almost every vegetable stall in the wet market that morning had bunches of Thai baby asparagus for sale. It must be the season for them. Thai baby asparagus are long and thin, and requires minimal cooking time. 

We bought a couple of bundles home since we love eating asparagus. A quick, easy and nice way of cooking it is to stir fry it with some seafood such as scallops and king prawns.

Asian stir fried asparagus with scallops and king prawns

Asparagus is low in calories, low in sodium and is high in nutrients - it is a good source of vitamin B6, calcium, magnesium and zinc, dietary fibre, protein, beta-carotene, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin K and many more. Stir frying it quickly keeps all the nutrients in. The scallops and king prawns are marinated in some ginger wine to get rid of any "fishy" smells and it also enhances the texture. This dish only takes under 5 minutes to cook, since the baby asparagus needs only around 1 minute to retain its texture, crunch and colour.

Fresh, clean flavours and beautiful colours

A winning dish in my books - it has got all my favorite ingredients and tastes wonderful and fresh. I think I'll need to go and get a few more bundles of baby asparagus to cook this again :)

Stir fried asparagus with scallops and king prawns
Recipe by Baby Sumo
Preparation time: 5-10 minutes
Cooking time: under 5 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients
250g baby asparagus, woody ends trimmed
150g scallop
8 king prawns, deveined with tails intact
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp ginger wine
1 tbsp cooking oil
1 red chilli, thinly sliced
Salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Marinate the scallops and prawns in separate bowls with 1/2 tsp ginger wine each for about 2-3 minutes. This will get rid of any "fishy" smells.

2. In a wok, heat the cooking oil over medium high heat then add the garlic, and fry for 2 minutes, until fragrant and lightly browned.

3. Then, add the prawns and cook for about 30 seconds (half-cooked), then add the asparagus and stir fry for another 30 seconds, before finally adding the scallops. Depending on the size of the scallops this can take 30 - 45 seconds. Season with the remaining ginger wine, salt and pepper. Add the red chilli and stir around quickly.

4. Serve immediately.

Note: Cooking time for the asparagus can vary depending on the thickness of the asparagus. The ones that I used in this recipe are about 6mm thick, hence only require a short cooking time of 1 minute. Please adjust accordingly.

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*I am submitting this to Little Thumb's Up "Ginger" event hosted by Alvin @ Chef and Sommelier.