Sweet and Sour Shrimp

We had a couple bell peppers and some shrimp in need of a home recently, and I was debating options on how to use them both. I settled on sweet and sour because that sounded delicious! I've used this recipe for years, but I thought it might be time to try something a little different to see if we could find a sauce recipe we liked just a bit more.

I will tell you - this makes a LOT, and is heavy on the sauce for the amount of ingredients. If I'd had celery and more carrots, I would have added a good 2-cups or so more veggies. Take that into consideration if you give this one a try. You can halve the sauce, leave as is if you love saucy, or up your veggies / protein! Plenty of "wiggle" room! I also omitted the traditional addition of pineapple. I love using pineapple juice for my sauce, but none of us are particularly big fans of the pineapple chunks in the recipe - add them back in if you love them!

Make about 3-4 cups of brown rice in your instant pot while you're prepping this dish, and dinner will come together in about 45 minutes total, perfect for a weeknight meal!

Sweet and Sour Shrimp adapted from Daring Gourmet

Ingredients
2 bell peppers (I used green, use your preferred color), large diced
1 large onion, large diced
5-6 medium carrots, peeled and bias sliced
Additional veggie suggestion: 5-6 stalks celery, bias sliced
1 lb shrimp, peeled, deveined, and thawed
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 TBS olive oil

Sauce
2 cups pineapple juice
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
2/3 cup rice vinegar
6 TBS ketchup
1/4 cup tablespoons soy sauce
3 TBS cornstarch
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp garlic powder

Directions

1. Heat a large nonstick skillet over med-high to high heat. Heat the oil to hot, then add in all of your prepped veggies. 
2. Saute the vegetables for about 10 minutes, adjusting the heat as necessary and stirring occasionally. You should get some good color on both sides, and the peppers and carrots should be mostly tender when pierced with a fork (or saute to your desired "doneness" - we like ours to be fairly tender).
3. Meanwhile, combine all of the sauce ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk well to thoroughly combine. 
4. When the vegetables are cooked, clear a space in the middle of the pan and add in the shrimp. Sprinkle everything lightly with salt and pepper. Cook the shrimp on one side for about a minute or two, until they get a little color on them, then give them a flip. Cook another minute or two. When they are mostly pink (they don't need to be all the way cooked through, as they will simmer in the sauce for another couple minutes), pour the sauce into the pan through a fine strainer (to catch any un-blended bits of brown sugar or cornstarch). 
5. Turn the heat to high and bring the sauce to a low simmer, stirring regularly until all of the sauce has darkened in color and thickened to your desired consistency.
6. Taste, and adjust garlic / ginger if desired.
7. Serve over hot cooked rice and enjoy!