September 1st: Shrimp Curry

Back in the Saddle Again


There you have it folks: a hiatus from (full-time, paid) work, and a hiatus from the blogosphere.


SHE’S BAAAAAACK!


I spent a couple of days toward the end of August planning my meals for the month of September, to ease my transition to work, and Olivia's and Sadie’s transitions to school and daycare. Then I went shopping and bought all the meat (now frozen) and dry goods I need to make all those meals, with the thought that I can pick up the fresher items I need on a weekly basis. All good, EXCEPT I forgot minor details, like Shannon, Rod, and Jessie are visiting for a week in September. Some tweaks will have to be made.


For today’s easy, back-to-work, first post-work supper, I chose to make a shrimp curry by Ricardo (of Ricardo fame). Luckily, Greg’s garden is producing an abundance of tomatoes, just in time!

Here's the original recipe:

Shrimp Curry
1 large onion, chopped
1/4 cup (60 ml) vegetable oil
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 teaspoons (10 ml) fresh ginger, finely grated*
4 tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 can 14 oz (398 ml) coconut milk
1 1/2 teaspoons (7.5 ml) garam masala
1 green or red chile pepper, chopped (optional)*
1 teaspoon (5 ml) salt
2 lbs (1 kg) fresh shrimp, shelled and deveined*
The juice of 1 lime
Fresh cilantro leaves, for garnish


In a skillet, brown the onion in the oil. Add the garlic and ginger. Cook for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, coconut milk, garam masala, pepper and salt. Simmer over low heat for 10 minutes.

Add the shrimp. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 3 to 5 minutes. Add the lime juice and sprinkle with coriander leaves. Adjust the seasoning and serve.


*I made a few changes. (a) I rarely use fresh gingeroot, finding it to be persnickety. I used 1 tsp ginger paste for this recipe. (b) I wanted my children to eat the food, so I did not add a spicy pepper. I did add a sweet red pepper, to up the nutrient quotient. In future I would add some red pepper flakes for a bit of heat. (c) I used half the amount of shrimp, and my curry was, as a result, a bit soupy.

I served this with basmati rice. It was quite good. Would I make it again? Hm. Maybe.

I'm rusty: I forgot to take a picture.