Indian Cooking for Novices: Coconut Curry Shrimp
I had a cooking date with SodiumGirl today. We were having our first date, and I thought we could get to know each other in the kitchen, via Skype. I was armed with Anjum's New Indian and looking for an excuse to crack it open. Since both Anjum and SodiumGirl are published by my publisher, Wiley, I thought this all made sense.
I love Skype, I really do, but it dropped our call every few minutes. Cooking wasn't going to happen, so I waited until our call was over to try Anjum's recipe.
As you may know, I'm now cooking for myself, my fiance, and his 9-year old daughter who is more into "plain" food than I am. I knew Indian cooking was asking a lot of her.
I gave her the cookbook this morning, with a stack of stickies and asked her to pick a few recipes that looked good. Coastal Shrimp Curry (p. 64), with cardamom, chiles, coconut milk and tamarind paste was the top of her list.
A well written Indian recipe can make a non-Indian person feel gifted. There are more spices used than in any other cuisine, plus there are fresh chiles, fresh garlic and ginger; there are purees and spice blends, coconut milk and tomatoes; coriander, cumin, whole cinnamon and thankfully never any one making you look for chicken stock. Indian cooking can take your kitchen to a place your family doesn't recognize and if you have a talented guide (like Anjum) that's a good thing.
As soon as I set the cinnamon and cloves into the oil; The Kid came home from school. I grimaced a bit; there was no way she was going to like this. And yes, I know there's always cereal, but it's important right now for her to feel like she's a part of what we're doing -- what I'm doing -- and I just knew I was going down a slippery slope.
I started cooking faster, and she hung around the kitchen looking for something to do. I added onions to the oil, she picked up a wooden spoon and started to stir, "I love this part so much," she said.
When it was time to measure the spices, I gave her a 1/2 teaspoon measure (which led to an impromptu lesson on fractions), and asked if she wanted to help, "Just for a little bit," she said. I know, I know, there's gotta be something more interesting happening right now on TV.
I pureed the garlic and ginger; what was left...peeling shrimp? Egads. But she was still in the kitchen. I asked if she wanted to help once more and she said, "Just for a little bit." Again with the little bit.
As I was showing her to remove the shell, pull the legs and wiggle the soft tail out of the hard shell, she asked, "You know why I always say just a little bit when you ask me to help?"
"Because you'd rather watch TV?" I answered.
"No. Because when I say 'a little bit' you always give me a something more to do. I said I'd measure spices, and now I'm peeling shrimp!"
Sometimes I really misread The Kid. As for dinner, she ate two cucumbers, rice, shrimp, mango juice, and a glass of milk because that curry was seriously spicy and that's the only way she could get it down.
Anjum's Coastal Shrimp Curry
Adapted from Anjum's New Indian
(adapted to be made with what I had in my pantry)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (or coconut oil)
5 cloves
3-inch piece of cinnamon stick
1 medium-large onion, finely chopped
1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
7 large cloves of garlic, peeled
1/2 teaspoon chile powder
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground curry powder
1 teaspoon ground coriander
4 medium canned tomatoes, quartered
1 green chile, minced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 can light coconut milk
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 teaspoons tamarind paste
1. Heat the oil in a medium nonstick skillet. Add cloves and cinnamon, and cook until they are fragrant. Add the onion and cook until golden, 8-10 minutes.
2. Puree the ginger and garlic in a food processor and add to the skillet with a tablespoon of water. Cook over medium-low heat for 2 minutes until the water has evaporated and you can fry the paste. Add the spices, tomatoes and green chile and salt. (SodiumGirl, I tried, to pull myself back but I couldn't. I just saw all that good stuff in the skillet and knew a little salt would make it sing. I tried to wait until the end and taste, I really did, but I couldn't. I held back on the fatty coconut milk; this was not a compromise I was willing to make. Cook for 15 minutes, or until the mixture releases oil droplets into the pan. Taste; there should be no raw-tasting bits.
3. Add coconut milk and bring to a simmer for 5 minutes. Add shrimp, cook for 3 minutes and remove from the heat. Put tamarind paste in a small bowl, add 2 tablespoons of curry broth and stir to make a cohesive mixture. Return tamarind broth to skillet and serve over rice.
I love Skype, I really do, but it dropped our call every few minutes. Cooking wasn't going to happen, so I waited until our call was over to try Anjum's recipe.
As you may know, I'm now cooking for myself, my fiance, and his 9-year old daughter who is more into "plain" food than I am. I knew Indian cooking was asking a lot of her.
I gave her the cookbook this morning, with a stack of stickies and asked her to pick a few recipes that looked good. Coastal Shrimp Curry (p. 64), with cardamom, chiles, coconut milk and tamarind paste was the top of her list.
 |
| Photo from JustcookNYC.com |
A well written Indian recipe can make a non-Indian person feel gifted. There are more spices used than in any other cuisine, plus there are fresh chiles, fresh garlic and ginger; there are purees and spice blends, coconut milk and tomatoes; coriander, cumin, whole cinnamon and thankfully never any one making you look for chicken stock. Indian cooking can take your kitchen to a place your family doesn't recognize and if you have a talented guide (like Anjum) that's a good thing.
As soon as I set the cinnamon and cloves into the oil; The Kid came home from school. I grimaced a bit; there was no way she was going to like this. And yes, I know there's always cereal, but it's important right now for her to feel like she's a part of what we're doing -- what I'm doing -- and I just knew I was going down a slippery slope.
I started cooking faster, and she hung around the kitchen looking for something to do. I added onions to the oil, she picked up a wooden spoon and started to stir, "I love this part so much," she said.
When it was time to measure the spices, I gave her a 1/2 teaspoon measure (which led to an impromptu lesson on fractions), and asked if she wanted to help, "Just for a little bit," she said. I know, I know, there's gotta be something more interesting happening right now on TV.
I pureed the garlic and ginger; what was left...peeling shrimp? Egads. But she was still in the kitchen. I asked if she wanted to help once more and she said, "Just for a little bit." Again with the little bit.
As I was showing her to remove the shell, pull the legs and wiggle the soft tail out of the hard shell, she asked, "You know why I always say just a little bit when you ask me to help?"
"Because you'd rather watch TV?" I answered.
"No. Because when I say 'a little bit' you always give me a something more to do. I said I'd measure spices, and now I'm peeling shrimp!"
Sometimes I really misread The Kid. As for dinner, she ate two cucumbers, rice, shrimp, mango juice, and a glass of milk because that curry was seriously spicy and that's the only way she could get it down.
Anjum's Coastal Shrimp Curry
Adapted from Anjum's New Indian
(adapted to be made with what I had in my pantry)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (or coconut oil)
5 cloves
3-inch piece of cinnamon stick
1 medium-large onion, finely chopped
1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
7 large cloves of garlic, peeled
1/2 teaspoon chile powder
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground curry powder
1 teaspoon ground coriander
4 medium canned tomatoes, quartered
1 green chile, minced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 can light coconut milk
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 teaspoons tamarind paste
1. Heat the oil in a medium nonstick skillet. Add cloves and cinnamon, and cook until they are fragrant. Add the onion and cook until golden, 8-10 minutes.
2. Puree the ginger and garlic in a food processor and add to the skillet with a tablespoon of water. Cook over medium-low heat for 2 minutes until the water has evaporated and you can fry the paste. Add the spices, tomatoes and green chile and salt. (SodiumGirl, I tried, to pull myself back but I couldn't. I just saw all that good stuff in the skillet and knew a little salt would make it sing. I tried to wait until the end and taste, I really did, but I couldn't. I held back on the fatty coconut milk; this was not a compromise I was willing to make. Cook for 15 minutes, or until the mixture releases oil droplets into the pan. Taste; there should be no raw-tasting bits.
3. Add coconut milk and bring to a simmer for 5 minutes. Add shrimp, cook for 3 minutes and remove from the heat. Put tamarind paste in a small bowl, add 2 tablespoons of curry broth and stir to make a cohesive mixture. Return tamarind broth to skillet and serve over rice.
posted by Allison Fishman Task at 10:35 PM
5 Comments:
I love a good skype date. Almost as much as a belly-warming curry. So Tuesday was a particularly great day. To "Salt-Free" this recipe, there were only a handful of ingredients that needed adjustments: shrimp (480mg of sodium for 3 oz), the tamarind paste, and of course, the salt. For the shrimp, I substituted some rock fish (tilapia would work well too), which I diced to look like chunks of shrimp. For the tamarind paste, I just used some tamarind pods that I let marinate in the coconut milk (very low in sodium) later in the recipe. But if you want paste, there are some easy recipes to make it yourself on the interweb. And to replace the zing of salt, I added some fresh cilantro and a squeeze of lime at the end to brighten the other spices. And there you have it. A shrimp-less and low sodium shrimp curry.
i just saw this -- thanks for the link back with my photo
Sodium Girl: What great suggestions! I had no idea that coconut milk was so low in sodium. And of course, fresh herbs and an acid will give you a zing and a zang in place of the salt.
Justin: Thank YOU for taking such a pretty pic!
I find that when cooking Indian food, a recipe is kind of like the base but the measurements will vary due to personal tastes. Great post!
Serving curry is one way to spice up the plain food.
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