miso-molasses grilled shrimp over a fried rice cake and spinach with fishy-spicy-simple syrup

miso-molasses grilled shrimp over a fried rice cake and spinach with fishy-spicy-simple syrup, originally uploaded by aarn! +14th July, 2011+.

made some fishy-spicy-simple syrup by mixing a 1:1 ratio of sugar and hot water (about 1/2c. worth) with a splash of stinky fish sauce, the juice from half of a lemon, 1t. chili paste, a pinch of dry korean chili flakes, a dash of paprika, about 1T. of soy sauce, a little salt, and some straight vinegar - until the bite was right. the sauce was nice and loose and had just a hint of that nauseating bottled fish sauce flavor that adds an unmistakable depth. shaved some long strands of peeled carrot into the mixture and let chill in the refrigerator.
peeled and de-veined a handful of large shrimp, butterflied them down the back and patted them dry with some paper towels. tossed the shrimp in a mixture of about 4T. molasses, 2T. soy sauce, 1T. white miso paste, a few squirts of worcestershire sauce, a little unfiltered apple cider vinegar, and a pinch of old bay seasoning.
made some gooey rice with a little bit of sugar and some unfiltered apple cider vinegar. let cool for a few minutes. formed a couple of rice patties on some parchment paper, then transferred the patties to a sautee pan filled with about a quarter of an inch of hot olive oil. fried the rice patties until crisp and brown on each side (not easy - never doing this again without a binder, like egg).
grilled the marinated shrimp over very high heat on a grill, turning regularly, until colored, cooked, and crispy. put some spinach down in a wide-rimmed bowl, topped with a rice cake, and a few grilled shrimp, then poured the fishy simple syrup over the top of everything and garnished with some of the dressed carrots from the sauce.