MING: This week on Simply Ming, in the house is one of my favorite people who can cook, who can dance, and now she can write-- Carla Hall.

She has a brand-new book called Carla Hall's Soul Food.

I was really trying to get back to the dishes that my ancestors were eating, which I know were so much healthier.

MING: She's making one of my favorite things in the world her way-- shrimp and grits.

And you see how they bloomed?

MING: Then I'm going to take some leftover grits and do a grit tempura batter for some shrimp and zucchini.

Cooking at home right here on Simply Ming.

♪ ♪ Ming!

MING: Love having you back.

Thank you-- it's great to be here.

MING: You're the best.

Congrats on seven years of The Chew, by the way.

I know-- 1,500 episodes!

MING: So cool-- that's crazy.

That's crazy-- and your book!

Yes, yes.

MING: Carla Hall's Soul Food.

Carla Hall's Soul Food.

MING: Psyched.

And I make a distinction between everyday and celebration, because I think when you think about soul food, you think of everything that's fried, and everything that is really heavy.

MING: Right.

But it doesn't have to be.

MING: Here-- muddler, I put pineapple and Thai basil.

So we're going to do a version with a little sparkling water, and a version with a little rum.

I'm calling this a Carla Colada.

That's right!

And I get my own drink, too?

Okay, here.

MING: You get your own drink-- that's perfect.

That's good, you're good.

Top those off with ice for me.

Okay.

MING: So it's pineapple and Thai basil.

Just muddle that down.

We're going to add to this pineapple juice, because it's better with pineapple juice.

We're going to add a little bit of orange juice.

And if you... this is cream of coconut.

Yes.

MING: Give me a little spoon.

I feel like this was something I used to have in the '80s.

MING: I didn't know you in the '80s.

You must have been a wild thing in the '80s.

So wild that I added cranberry juice.

MING (laughing): Wow!

Is that enough?

MING: That's perfect.

Is that enough?

Too much?

MING: Give me a little bit of ice, like, I don't know, a couple of inches.

Okay.

MING: That's perfect.

All right, good.

Oh, another one-- here, this is for you.

Give me a little bit more ice in this one.

That's for you.

Okay.

MING: Okay, now we get to shake.

Yeah, let's shake it.

MING: Should be on pretty tight.

Very nice, very nice.

Oh, yeah, oh, yeah.

Yeah, oh, yeah, oh, okay.

(moaning) Okay!

That should be good.

Oh, here, let me show you this.

Actually, on the... ...on the side, on the stainless steel part.

I taught something to Carla Hall!

I'm so excited.

Yes, you did, especially when it comes to drinks.

Okay.

MING: Okay.

That looks so good.

MING: So nice and creamy.

Look how frothy it gets.

MING: Yeah, that's just the cream of coconut.

Then we're going to put a little bit of sparkling on top of that for you.

I'm going to go ahead and do the same.

I think you could have been a really great part of Cocktail the movie.

MING: Oh, what a great movie.

Mm-hmm.

MING: Although Top Gun was first.

There's this whole thing about Top Gun now, that I just read, says, "You guys better have a female Top Gun."

As they should.

As they should, come on!

MING: Because it's going to be a better... A better movie.

Okay, so sparkling water.

Are you doing sparkling?

MING: I'm going to do some rum, which is just like sparkling.

Yeah, just more... MING: Because...

Instead of bubbles... MING: Just a little dark rum float on top.

Nice-- ooh, nice.

MING: Like that, with a touch of sparkling, as well.

Because that adds some good flavor.

Of course, you can't have a Carla Colada without a pink straw and a slice of pineapple.

Yes.

I love it.

MING: There you go.

Mm-hmm.

MING: So you don't have to have booze to enjoy a great cocktail.

No, cheers.

MING: To you, to you.

Here, let me have this.

MING: Yeah, have a straw.

Paper straw-- we all go paper now, guys.

Mmm, this is delicious.

MING: Does that work?

Mm-hmm.

MING: Should we go make some grits?

Oh, let's go make some grits.

MING: From the master!

Come on, let's go.

Shrimp and grits?

Shrimp and grits.

MING: Talk to me.

All right, so I think, when you think of shrimp and grits, you go someplace to get shrimp and grits, and they're so creamy and heavy, and they've got all this butter and cream.

But really, when you think about, like, the great-great- great-great-grandmothers who were making shrimp and grits, it was all about the shrimp.

MING: Right.

And honestly, when you think about even African-Americans, we can't even process all of that dairy!

So why would we be making them like that?

MING: Asians, too.

Right.

MING: Same thing.

So I want to start with this, just really clean grits.

And when I think about grits-- we're using stone-ground grits-- it's usually three to one.

I've got some water going here, like, a cup of grits, three cups of water.

I'm going to use bay leaf.

And it really adds just wonderful minty, almost, like, eucalyptus taste to the grits.

So then you're going to drop the grits in.

You think about polenta.

You don't have to just slowly put them in, because these are coarse.

MING: Polenta, we go like this, right, because you...

Right, exactly, because they're coarse.

They just dump them, dump them in, yeah.

MING: And you like coarse because of the mouth feel and the flavor.

Exactly right.

And you just want to feel it.

The thing is, though, I mean, there are times when I might use quick grits, which, they say a minute, but even quick grits take ten minutes.

MING: Right.

Because I think what happens, especially in the Northeast, they undercook the grits, and you feel those little balls in your mouth.

MING: Too chewy, right?

It's not pleasant-- right.

MING: And this is going to take what, half an hour?

This is going to take about a half-hour.

And the thing is, you shouldn't... You should just see them all make their own creaminess.

So it's coming to a boil, and then I'm just going to give them a little bit of a whisk, and make sure that they're not sticking together, and then I'm going to turn it down to simmer.

MING: So this may be a stupid question, because you-- I can't recall ever doing this with rice-- but would you ever start with cold water?

Yes, oh, my gosh, absolutely!

Cold water makes really creamy grits.

And you don't have to use water.

You could use chicken stock.

You could use half chicken stock.

And if you want to do milk, you could use half milk.

MING: Because the starches then come out more slowly?

Yes, exactly, and then they get really creamy.

MING: That's like the risotto-- add, slowly, liquid at a time.

Exactly.

MING: Awesome.

Okay, I got some chopping-- what can I do?

All right, so give me a small dice of the pepper for our shrimp.

And then I'm going to do a small dice of onion.

And again, I'm keeping this really clean, because I really want the shrimp to sing.

So I have onion.

You're going to do the pepper.

They smell so fresh and delicious.

And then we're going to do some tomato and let everything sort of make its own sauce.

I mean, it's really a super-, super-simple everyday dish.

MING: I love that.

Yes.

MING: So I know you don't know, but I know you're awesome teaching on TV.

I know you're doing a book.

Yes.

MING: You're probably going to miss teaching on TV, right?

You're going to want to get back on it.

I love teaching, and I just love showing people that they should really get back to the kitchen.

Just the same thing that you're doing-- things that people will actually make at home, and that they think are so hard, and you're, like, "No, they're not really hard."

MING: Okay, so we're going to slice this, slice that.

Those grits take 30 minutes, right?

They take 30 minutes.

MING: So we'll watch that.

Yep.

MING: And then, after the 30 minutes, we can start cooking the shrimp?

Yeah, that's starting... Yep.

MING: And all this stuff?

MING: All right, stick around-- shrimp and grits, Carla Hall-style!

Those look pretty good.

Right?

And there's no cream in here-- you just cook them enough.

So I'm going to add some salt.

We started with some salt.

MING: You need pepper?

Yep, let's do some pepper in there.

MING: So that was about 30 minutes, right?

Yeah, about 30 minutes, and you see how they bloomed?

And you have to make sure that you have enough water.

Because if you don't have enough water, then they just don't have room to expand.

So let's give it a taste.

Right?

MING: You don't need fat.

You don't need fat.

MING: It's so creamy, it's unbelievable.

All right, so we have these done.

And the reason we did these, like, now, because the shrimp take no time... MING: Okay.

They really take no time.

It's almost like we have everything ready, almost like a stir fry.

MING: I have some shrimp for you here.

All right, so... MING: What kind of oil would you like?

I'm going to use canola.

Because, you know why?

I want to taste all of the flavor of the grits, I want to taste the shrimp.

MING: Got it-- say when.

All right, and our pan is hot, so we know exactly how much oil we have in here.

MING: You see how that oil's dancing?

That's the sign the pan's hot.

The oil doesn't move, it's not hot.

Exactly, you get those legs, you get those dimples.

MING: Like a little salt and pepper on these?

Yep, salt and pepper on the shrimp.

And we've already peeled them, deveined them.

I like to keep the tails on, because that's flavor.

It's just like having...

Cooking chicken thighs with your bones.

So you just want to have as much flavor as possible.

MING: There you go, chef.

All right.

And so what I'm going to do is just lay them into the fat and try not to get burned up with these sleeves.

MING: (laughs) That's what I'm going to try to do.

MING: I'll help you.

So... and then you just want to... you want to give... You don't want to overcrowd the pan.

MING: Right.

Yep, and then you know when the shrimp are cooking nicely-- they turn pink.

And then also, you see how we're slowly adding the shrimp in here, because the pan gets a chance to come back up to heat.

MING: That's a great tip, because if you do dump it all... And by the way, never dump, seafood in particular, because seafood sometimes will have moisture in the bottom.

Yes.

MING: And if you dump that little bit...

Even if it's a tablespoon of water, it's going to... it'll start steaming it, not searing it, right?

We're all about searing.

So here we have... and you can see how it's turning nice and pink over here.

These are the ones that we first put in.

They're just getting a little bit of color.

And the thing is, I don't need to cook them all the way now-- I just want to get a little bit of color, because we're going to take them out, and then we're going to start making our sauce.

MING: I can help.

Yeah, why don't you get in there and help?

"And I helped."

And what I love about shrimp... You know, I always tell people this-- if you have a shrimp that is really tightly curled, it's probably overcooked.

So you know from afar if you need to go and have those shrimp at the buffet.

If it is hanging on for dear life to a thread, you don't need to touch that shrimp.

That shrimp's overcooked.

MING: And by the way, your nose knows all.

If you smell fishy anything, move away.

Exactly, move away.

MING: Go to the salad bar.

All right, so these are just about ready.

And it's just a couple of minutes, maybe two minutes on the first side, a minute on the second side, and we take them out.

MING: Literally.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, so these, you can see how these are already nice and pink and done.

And then you see that nice little color in there.

MING: Yep.

That it's a little translucent, which we want.

And then you see how they're just nicely curling, not too much.

MING: And these are, like, U12s, about?

U12s.

MING: 12 to a pound, right?

You may see 16... 16-20s, which they consider large shrimp.

But if you have small shrimp, you can use those.

But I like...

I like a bigger shrimp, because I really want to have that pop in my mouth with all the different flavors.

MING: I love "jumbo shrimp."

Do you?

MING: No, just the statement, "jumbo shrimp."

Oh, you like saying, "Jumbo shrimp."

MING: Yeah, because what do you mean?

It's shrimp-- how can it be jumbo?

I'll have to come back here and do cracked shrimp with you, which is so delicious.

It's another recipe in my book which I love.

All right, so we have these all out.

Those are looking beautiful.

MING: Keep that hot.

So you want your onions?

Yep.

I'm going to put some more oil in here.

I want the onions in here, yep.

We have everything ready.

So our onions... and because I've put an ingredient in, I'm going to add some salt.

MING: Okay, pepper or no?

Yep, let's do pepper.

MING: Okay.

It's starting to smell good.

I feel like onions are that one thing that you know, you feel like you can throw down, because you have some onions in there.

MING: What's next, garlic or bell peppers?

Let's do the garlic.

And we're going to put the garlic on top of the onions, because we don't want that to get burned or scorched, because that'll ruin your dish.

And then let's go right in with the peppers.

Yep.

And again, we added the green peppers, we're going to add a little more salt, a little bit of pepper.

MING: Okay.

And then our onions are getting translucent.

MING: And I love that it's cooking in the fat that's been flavored with shrimp.

Exactly, and that's why you use the same pan.

MING: Yeah.

It's so funny-- when I'm cooking, I always have my... Like, my grandmother, she puts that hand on her hip.

MING: So good.

But, you know, by the way, in France... you want this in?

Yes, I want that in.

MING: I was working at Fauchon like this, and the chef, Pierre Hermé, is, like, "Hé, il ne faut pas fais Limoges."

Do not fais Limoges, do Limoges.

And Limoges, I'm, like... and I asked the chef, he looked away, and they're all laughing.

Limoges in the place in France, town where they're famous for making porcelain.

And they make teapots.

So if you're like this, you look like a teapot.

Oh, yeah.

MING: So in France, you can't do this, because il ne faut pas fais Limoges.

You can't look like a teapot-- crazy.

Well, also, you take up space in the kitchen.

I mean, if I'm at home, I'm doing this.

If I'm in a professional kitchen, I'm poking people.

You have to get by, that is...

So here we have this, if you're feeling that you need extra... You see the tomatoes are creating, like, a little extra juice.

MING: A little juice, yep.

If you feel like you need more because there's so much flavor, we can always do a splash of water in here.

MING: Would you like that?

Yeah, let's do a splash of water, just a little bit.

MING: If not, we'd use chicken stock, or any stock would work.

So now, we're... exactly.

Any stock can work-- veggie stock, chicken stock.

Maybe some... seafood stock... MING: Seafood stock!

That's not what I was thinking of anyway.

MING: Second syllable, movie, sounds like...

So here-- we're going to go in here.

And now all this is hot.

We are just going to stir this up, and just sort of coat our shrimp.

MING: I have some parsley-- chop that up?

Yep, so let's chop up the parsley.

We're going to let this sort of cook when it's going to cook.

We're going to put in some thyme.

Let me just have this thyme.

We're going to put some thyme into the grits.

MING: All right.

And then that's going to be right at the end.

I'm going to add just a little more water.

And then... yep.

MING: Say when.

Yeah, go ahead and give me all that, because I... we should make it... yeah, that's fine.

And then we're just about done.

And that's all the liquid I really need for the shrimp and grits, honestly.

MING: So this is dairy-free.

It's dairy-free.

And it is so clean.

And this is the perfect dish that I think that you can have, you know, midweek.

(pan sizzling) And that thyme is... so now I'm going to take my bay leaf out.

MING: You don't want that one person to be chewing some bay leaf.

I know, right?

MING: "The grits are really good-- they're chewy, though."

So you can see how creamy they are, which is great.

And then right at the end, I'm going to turn my... Everything's all done, turning all this off.

This is beautiful.

Now, if you want... you ready to plate?

MING: Yeah, come over here, let's plate over here.

Okay.

MING: Perfect.

Have your parsley for you, too.

Yep.

MING: I'm so happy.

I'm just going to, just... ...stand here and watch.

Just stand there.

And I'm going to just... a little bit of grits.

MING: The best food in the world, always, is someone else's.

I know, I know, right?

MING: Always-- you make me a grilled cheese, it's going to be so much better than a grilled cheese I make.

And now we have our beautiful shrimp.

This pan is heavy, so I'm going to take some of the... get you some of the... MING: This I can help you.

Yeah?

MING: Walk this thing over.

Here we go.

(gasps): Smells so good.

It's just such a simple, simple dish.

And I think it just reminds me of what my grandmother, who was from... who was from South Carolina, how he would be eating.

And I was really trying to kind of get back to the dishes that my... my ancestors were eating, and sort of get back to their food, which I know was so much healthier.

MING: So any men in your family cook, or is it all mom and grandma?

My dad, no, my dad was the one who cooked.

My mother really didn't cook.

My mother made great pancakes.

MING: It's almost like the opposite, right?

Right?

Because you would think it's the mom cooking, and the dad, Sunday breakfast, makes pancakes.

Yeah.

MING: Interesting.

So my mom cooked, both my grandmothers were great cooks.

So... MING: How good does this look?

Yeah.

MING: Before we get to sit down and eat, can you stick around with me?

I'm going to use some of your leftover grits and make a kind of a cool tempura batter.

Of course you are.

MING: Cool.

Stick around!

♪ ♪ Can't wait to try your shrimp and grits, girl.

That looks so good.

All right, so I'm going to do something funky.

Okay.

MING: I'm going to take your leftover grits and make a tempura batter.

So it's a grit tempura...

This is amazing.

MING: ...with shrimp and zucchini and squash.

If you can just give me some, like, long fries of the zucchini and squash, I'm going to start... And I don't need a lot, but rehydrated grits, because, as you know, if you start with raw grits, it wouldn't work.

It wouldn't work.

MING: It just wouldn't work.

I am so excited about this.

Usually with my leftover grits, I might do grits cakes or something like that, you know?

MING: So that's rice flour.

Yep.

MING: So traditional fast tempura is just soda water, because it keeps it nice and light, and rice flour.

In Japan, they would put an egg in ice water, but it's just not practical for the home cook, because you don't know if the egg, you know, cooks all the way through.

And I like the lightness of sparkling water.

So this is coming together nicely.

I like it.

I'm going to add a little bit more of your delicious grits.

And so what consistency are you looking for?

MING: Pancake batter.

Okay, okay.

MING: Great question.

And I'm going to add some flavors to this.

So we have some paprika.

Mm-hmm.

MING: We have a little bit of ginger powder.

And we have a little bit of garlic powder.

All right?

Oh, I love this.

MING: Like that-- mix that in.

I will put some black pepper and a pinch of salt, but there's going to be more salt, like French fries.

Right?

MING: Right, afterwards.

But I think just a touch of salt would be great.

Are these too long, or want them shorter?

MING: No, those are perfect, those are perfect.

There we go.

All right, so that's what I'm looking for.

Kind of like pancake batter, right?

Like that.

Yeah-- oh, nice.

MING: And because I'm here, and you already have this parsley from your segment...

This is how we cook at home-- if you have something in your fridge, and it's ready to go, use it, okay?

I think we're good to go.

I love it.

MING: So I'm going to take some peeled and cleaned shrimp, same size shrimp that Carla had.

Man, you are a French fry machine.

I love French fries.

MING: I'm going to do this.

All right, so 375.

Okay.

MING: I'm going to turn it just a little bit higher.

Just try it once-- don't waste a shrimp.

Right.

MING: Waste a zucchini.

That smells amazing, by the way.

It smells so good.

MING: Right?

You know why?

Because it's your thyme and your bay leaf and your grits, all right?

And I love how the batter is just thick enough to, like, really stick onto the shrimp and the... MING: It's just holding.

It's going to be a light batter.

I don't want it all gloppy, right?

Yeah.

MING: All right, there we go.

Beautiful.

And I like frying in woks, because you can actually see it and spread it around.

All right, so these shrimp are going to probably take, with the zucchini and squash, about six to eight minutes all day.

All right?

So we're going to let that go.

And in six to eight minutes, we're going to have a fantastic shrimp and grits.

I can't wait.

MING: No, we're not.

Grits and shrimp-- no, shrimp with grits, coated.

No, no, East meets West-- grits and shrimp.

Wait, what?

MING: That dish!

All right, so after about six to eight minutes, look what you have.

That's amazing.

MING: G, B, and D zucchini squash fries.

Yes.

MING: And shrimp.

Wow.

MING: Look at that.

And we're going to... That looks so good.

And it's so fast.

MING: Right?

And we're going to make even the fastest aioli in the world.

Going to let this cool out for just a second.

There we go-- I'm going to season it up with some salt.

All right, that's going to be fantastic.

Super-quick aioli.

Okay.

MING: Put some Dijon in there for me, please.

Yep.

Dijon for the emulsifier.

MING: All right, some lemon juice here.

Yep.

MING: Go ahead and put those two egg yolks in.

Yep.

MING: So you need acid to help emulsify a good aioli.

Yep.

MING: And plus for flavor.

Dijon's a great emulsifier.

I also love, of course, the flavor of lemon, because we have something fried.

All right, perfect.

A couple of cloves of garlic.

Because again, we have this parsley-- let's use it all.

Yes.

MING: All right, put those cloves in-- awesome.

I'm going to use grapeseed oil.

Yep.

MING: I'm going to cover it to the top.

I've got the tools.

MING: Okay, so this trick... Go ahead-- you know how to do it, right?

It's just all the body, go really slow up, really slow up.

Really slow up.

Boom, baby.

So it can drizzle on top of our thing.

You keep going, girl.

You keep going.

I'm going to give you a little salt.

Yep.

MING: Awesome.

All that garlic is getting chopped.

MING: Look at that-- look at that.

Awesome.

Give it a try, shall we?

(blender stops) That looks so perfect.

That is awesome.

Is it awesome?

MING: All right.

It is awesome.

MING: Let's plate that up-- dump it in there.

Oh, it's so good.

MING: And my zucchini.

(tongs scraping on coating) You can hear, you can hear these fries, right?

Yeah, I mean, it's so crispy.

And then I'm just seeing those bits of the grits, which got nice and crunchy and delicious.

MING: Okay, that's for you, that's for you.

That's for me!

MING: That's got a sample.

(exclaiming) MING: Well, they're your grits, so if you love it, it's all on you, girl.

Well, you know what I love about this?

The acid from the dipping sauce.

I'm not double-dipping-- I'm going the other side.

MING: You can double-dip-- you know what?

Let's go triple-dip.

Let's go eat some shrimp and grits and this.

Come on.

Let's do it.

MING: I'm going to make you a passion fruit spritz.

So you can squeeze your lime in there if you'd like.

So just good old sparkling water with some delicious tart and sweet passion fruit syrup.

I love a good pucker, so this is my jam.

Cheers.

MING: To a good pucker.

(laughs) Okay.

Mmm.

MING: Finger food.

Yes.

MING: I'm going to start with your shrimp and grits here.

Okay, so, yeah, tell me what you think of the grits.

MING: Oh, my God, just unbelievable.

Right?

MING: Perfectly cooked.

Delicious, savory.

But you taste everything.

MING: And you taste the grits.

That's why I love it.

And you taste the shrimp.

MING: So good.

All right, let's try this.

I want to try the zucchini first.

Mm-hmm.

MING: I love how crispy they are, right?

Mmm, okay?

MING: Mmm.

MING: Nice job on the aioli.

The acid here is so good.

In fact, I'm going for the shrimp, because I had some of the... MING: What do you think of the crust?

It's delicious-- you know what I love?

I love how crispy the grits get.

You know, like, those little crisp...

I mean, that's adding even more texture.

And the flavor, it's incredible.

MING: I've tried so many times to make a good cornmeal crust, and sometimes it's just so hard.

For catfish and stuff, it's too crunchy.

Maybe that's the secret.

Wow.

MING: Carla Hall, I know the world is waiting to find out your next steps.

I am.

I am, too!

MING: I think Ocean's 9, I don't know.

Something?

Dude.

MING: Seriously?

Honestly.

MING: Because you starred in General Hospital.

I was on General Hospital.

MING: What year was that?

I've done-- this year.

MING: This year!

I've done some theater, so... MING: And you can dance-- I've seen you.

The world is my oyster.

MING: Can you sing?

I'm not tone-deaf.

How's... MING: That would be no.

(they laugh) Okay, I am tone-deaf.

So don't worry-- there's plenty of room.

Congratulations on all your success.

Thank you so much-- thanks for having me.

MING: And for all the amazing charity work you do, as well.

All of us chefs give back, and you are no exception.

So great to have you.

That's what we do.

Thank you so much.

MING: You are definitely one of the best-- I love you.

Thank you.

MING: And I love all you guys out there.

Try some grits, and then fry some up.

And as always, peace and good eating.

Cheers!