You, Me & Gluten Free

Garlic Fried Shrimp

My sister-in-law is great at walking into a kitchen and whipping up excellent meals, including garlic-fried shrimp.  They were so yummy and so simple until gluten issues entered the picture.  I attempted several versions, never with great success.  Most gluten free flours gave the dish the wrong flavor, texture or some other not-quite-right quality.  Then, staring into a bowl of raw shrimp it hit me – potato flour/starch!  It is so simple and brilliant I kicked myself for not thinking of it before! 

The funny part is the brilliance did not stop there.  True enjoyment of this dish has always been hobbled by my lack of creativity in how to serve them.  When it is just my crew here, we tend to eat and enjoy them however…but I never braved serving them to anyone (not to mention even considered sharing the recipe) until now.  The secret is in the sauce!  It makes a great appetizer dish, just ask my book club & friends.

Gluten/Wheat Free

Shrimp:
ingredients
raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
garlic, minced (about 1 clove per 12 shrimp)
potato flour/starch
oil for cooking

preparation
Rinse shrimp the toss shrimp in a bowl with garlic.  It is better if the shrimp is slightly moist so the flour holds on.  Drudge shrimp through the potato flour until lightly coated (I tried tossing it in the bowl as well only to find the flour clumping up and not providing a nice even coat).  Cook in a skillet with some oil (I prefer extra light tasting olive oil) about 2 minutes on each side or until opaque.

Dipping Sauce:
ingredients
gluten free soy sauce (I prefer La Choy)
sesame oil
rice wine vinegar
chili paste (I like using Sriracha hot paste for a bit of a kick)
chopped green onions

preparation
I just mix the above to taste.  Your preference works best.

Keeping on Our Toes with Gluten Free Eating

Ahhh...nothing like vomiting, passing out or having heart palpitations to remind you that you HAVE to keep on your toes with any allergy.  Recently, I found myself fending off a gluten reaction when my favorite local Japanese restaurant added some "special" sauce to my usual order of sushi rolls. 

It was a good reminder that we cannot rely on restaurants to provide the same recipes in the same manner as they did yesterday.  And we cannot forget the all important contamination of food that happens everywhere (including home).

Restaurants (and occasionally the chef on duty) will make minor adjustments to dishes to add flair or flavor, so double check before placing your order, no matter how often you've eaten it in the past.  And even if you let the server know that you have a gluten allergy, you need to make sure that they fully understand what that means - INCLUDING preparation & presentation all performed separately from glutenous foods to avoid cross contamination. 

Cross contamination almost deserves its own blog.  Contamination of food seems to be overlooked more than the actual ingredients in a dish.  Often times chicken tenders, corn dogs, and onion rings find their way into designated fry fryers.  Not to mention bits of pieces of who knows what is left behind in pans or griddles.  Recently I found out that it is almost impossible to wash gluten out of wooden cookware/utensils.  Wow...I now have marked "black rings of death" (black permanent marker rings on the handles) of wooden spoons that are used for cooking foods containing gluten. 

Another contamination people do not always think about is how gluten works its way into various layers of a dish.  At a gluten baking class I attended on Tuesday a girl asked this question.  She wanted to know why she felt sick after eating the non-gluten layer of a desert.  Most people chuckled, including myself, but I only laughed because I did this myself.  I tried things like eating the toppings off a regular pizza and sampled the frosting on a cake...none of which worked out well.

Parties also have their own contamination problems.  I am trying to figure out what to take tomorrow night to an event that does not involve dipping or such.  It never fails, no matter what you place around the dip, someone will find bread or gluten filled crackers to dip in it.  I even have tried to mark things gluten free (I have other friends who are on the same diet), but unless you are going to play dip monitor for the evening, stay clear.

So there it is - a friendly reminder to stay on your toes and be aware of what you eat and how it is treated.  Please, eat safely and make sure it tastes good!