I hardly ever remember to make food *before* I get hungry, which is a serious problem. I end up ravenous, unable to think straight, and head directly to foods which require no prep time. This explains my diet of chocolate pudding cups, raw avocado, Jamaican patties and take-out sushi from the shop behind my home.

Just last night I stalled at making dinner by checking email, filling the dishwasher and joining the anti-proroguing group on Facebook, and before you knew it my stomach was growling like a caged tiger. The granola bars in the pantry were starting to look like a nice idea for a main course.

Fortunately, I had planned ahead, and bought some baby bok choi and frozen shrimp at the grocery store on Thursday night. Hooray! Mum’s delicious speedy ginger & lime shrimp to the rescue. (Note: most of Mum’s cooking involves wrapping meat or eggs in pastry, so don’t be fooled into thinking she’s a health freak just because this one dish is good for you).

I swear the whole thing can be chopped, cooked and served in 15 minutes:
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 shallot or small onion, diced
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh raw ginger root
2 cloves fresh garlic, diced fine
2 tbsp. fish sauce
1 generous sprinkling dried spicy red pepper flakes
2 cups shrimp (I like frozen & shelled; less mess)
1/2 cup firm tofu, sliced finely into thin strips (vegetarians: skip shrimp, make it all tofu)
2 cups baby bok choi, sliced into strips
2 limes
lots of fresh cilantro
(optional) an avocado and a cucumber
salt & pepper to taste

Put a frying pan on low heat, drizzle the olive oil about, then toss in the onions to get them browned up. Add garlic as soon as it’s chopped. Next goes the fish sauce, the juice of one lime and red pepper flakes.

Now turn the heat up to medium-high and you can pop in the shrimp and/or tofu. Poke it all about in the pan vigorously with a spatula, coating it with sauce. Remember: nothing says “I love you” like a spatula.

Cook this for about 7 minutes until everything is sizzling and steamy. Add bok choi last and cover your pan to let it steam. This should only take 2-3 mins. Voila! You’re done.

Garnish with salt & pepper, add a generous fistful of fresh cilantro leaves (unless you hate them), slice the other lime into quarters and put on the side.

Bonus: if you have cucumber and avocado in the house, slice into small wedges and scatter over the steaming bowl, to add some cool & creamy contrast to steamy hot & sour shrimpy-ness. Yum!

Serve on its own, or with rice or noodles if you possess the forethought I lack to make those sorts of things in advance (start rice 20-40 mins before, noodles 10 mins before).