My brother recently moved to San Francisco and I’ve been cooking up a storm for him – just like Mom! He really loves shrimp and asked me to make him some Shrimp Curry. So here it is. This dish is pretty spicy so if you can’t handle the heat, take it down a notch. Or bust out the yogurt :)
Serves 4
Ingredients: (use organic when you can!)
• 1 ½ pounds large shrimp, peeled, deveined and tails removed
• ¾ cup of frozen green peas (or uncooked fresh peas)
• 2 medium yellow onions, chopped
• 1 teaspoon ginger paste (or 1” piece of fresh ginger)
• 1 teaspoon garlic paste (or 12 cloves fresh garlic)
• ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon (or more) red chili powder
• ½ teaspoon tamarind paste
• 2 green chilies (or 2 serrano chilies), finely chopped
• Fresh cilantro, chopped (optional)
• 1 teaspoon tomato paste
• Rock Salt to taste
• Pinch of asafetida (optional)
• 3 small bay leaves
• 3-4 tablespoons of vegetable or canola oil
• 1 cup water
Instructions:
Marinade: Clean and de-vein the shrimp. Pat dry with paper towels to remove all of the moisture. In a bowl add shrimp, ginger paste, garlic paste, tamarind, turmeric and red chili powder. If you don’t’ have ginger or garlic paste just add these fresh ingredients into a blender with a little bit of water and blend into a paste. Mix the shrimp and ingredients well until the marinade coats the shrimp. Set aside in refrigerator for 20-30 minutes.
Add oil a deep sauté pan over medium to high heat. As oil is warming up add asafetida (optional) and bay leaves. When oil is hot add onions and mix with the oil. I salt the onions to cook them faster. Keep this on low heat for at least 30 minutes. Cooking on low heat will take longer but the onions will slowly brown and have incredible flavor for your curry. Remember, you don’t want to burn your onions. In the middle of cooking the onions add the green chilies and green peas.
When onions are a beautiful translucent brown, add turmeric, red chili powder and tomato paste into the onions. Mix well and continue to cook on low heat for another few minutes. Then add marinated shrimp. Mix the shrimp with the onions well until they are all coated and cook for 1 minute. Add 1 cup of water. Sauté the shrimp on low heat for another ~3-4 minutes until the shrimp changes color (it will cook quickly so do not overcook the shrimp). If you want more sauce, you can add a little more water but do not add too much or it will become watery.
Garnish with fresh cilantro and enjoy over white or brown nice. I add a little bit of fresh squeezed lemon juice on top (1/2 teaspoon).
Just like mom used to make. Enjoy!
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Sonia’s suggested wine pairing: Chenin Blanc, Charles Bove, Loire Valley, France NV
Looks absolutely delish!!! I WILL indeed try this one out :-) Thanks for sharing. LeRoy
Anytime my friend. Glad you like it!
My Tamarind Paste has arrived I’m looking forward to making this for dinner tomorrow night :)
Let me know how it goes for sure! Or if you have any problems. I hope Adrian an take the heat! :)
Nicely mentioned & with excellent timing
Just tried this out the other day. Turned out incredible! Very different then my shrimp curry which my mom taught me. Their pretty close, but I think yours takes the win ;)
Thanks for trying it out and your feedback Parag. Next time take a picture and post on my facebook wall – http://www.facebook.com/stirringitup.
“1 teaspoon garlic paste (or 12 cloves fresh garlic)” That is some intense paste or is it a typo? Also, for the tamarind, is that the amount of reconstituted from a block of the dried tamarind? If not, what would be the equivalent measure of reconstituted dried? Thanks.
Hi Brian – you don’t have to use large pods of garlic, small pods would do..just enough for a paste. You can make more and free it also. I make a lot and put them in an ice-cube tray and freeze it. Then when I need it, I just pop it out of the freezer and put it in the pan. I do this also with ginger/garlic/green chili that I make into a paste. For most of these dishes I use Tamicon Paste Tamarind Concentrate. It’s in a jar, can be refrigerated for use later. If you’re buying reconstituted dry tamarind here is what you would need to do: Break off a piece from the block. (tightly wrap the rest of it and keep it in the fridge.) Soak the piece in warm water for a few minutes to soften. As a rough guide, use about 3 tablespoons of seedless tamarind pulp to 250 ml water. Don’t have to be too concerned about exact measurements because you’ll be adjusting the amount of tamarind extract used in a dish to taste. After you clean away seeds you should be able to get the proper amount for the recipe. Hope this helps!