I hope every one had a fantastic Mother’s day weekend. I sure did. The gifts were simple, the love and appreciation endless. The payment for all the food and love I share on a regular basis. Looking forward to my next pampering session–January 2020–my birthday!
Today I am sharing a family favorite and a highly requested recipe–curry shrimp. There are many variations of curry shrimp, each fantastic and delicious. Before I share any of those, it is important to start with and taste the most basic of them all–plain curry shrimp–no potato(aloo), no peas, no drama.
In my early years of marriage, I always made curry shrimp with potato. It was not until I visited my in laws that I appreciated the plain version. The taste of the shrimp was more pronounced and the flavor memorable! So much that I decided to alternate the recipes ever so often.
As I said in my You Tube video, we want to enhance, not over power the flavor of the shrimp. There must be the right balance of ingredients to allow the shrimp to shine.
In this recipe, shrimp is cooked with curry, herbs and pepper–both the hot kind, habanero and the seasoning kind–Caribbean pimento pepper. If you don’t like heat you may remove the seeds from the hot pepper, or omit it altogether. If you don’t have access to pimento pepper, leave it out as well. I know I have to make the occasional trek to Queens to stock up on pimento peppers, which I keep in a resealable bag in the freezer.
I know you will find this easy to prepare, especially if you buy the cleaned, deveined shrimp which is found in the frozen section of the supermarket and sold every where nowadays. If you don’t have access to the frozen product, fresh is always best. You can clean the shrimp on the weekend, season and freeze until ready to use–preferably for a quick week night dinner.
If I leave some sauce in it, we eat it with plain Jasmine rice and a salad for a quick week night dinner or with paratha, dosti roti or dhalpuri for a lavish weekend meal–you can make with some pumpkin or curry aloo on the side. Hey why not?
VIDEO TUTORIAL
Curried Shrimp Recipe
7 cloves garlic, less or more to your taste, finely chopped, divided
1 medium tomato, chopped, optional
If using potato(aloo)–use 3 tablespoons curry powder- peel and cut potato into small cubes
Heat oil in a narrow, heavy bottomed pot, add a few slices of onion and slices of pepper–if you are using. Cook until the edges darkens.
Add curry and cook about 2-3 minutes. Add about 1/2 cup of water and the remainder of the seasoning(culantro, garlic, hot pepper). Stir frequently, and cook until all the liquid has evaporated and curry becomes grainy and separates from the oil, about 3-5 minutes.
If using aloo, add now and stir continuously for 2 mins. Add about 1 cup water, cover and cook until tender about 10-15 minutes–then add shrimp and stir for 2 minutes.
If you are not using aloo, add shrimp and cook for 2-3 minutes stirring frequently.
Curried Shrimp Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 lbs frozen shrimp small, shelled, deveined, rinsed and drained
- 3 scallion aka bandhania or shado beni --substitute with 3 scallions or 1/4 cup cilantro, divided
- 1/2 small onion small, thinly sliced, divided
- 7 cloves garlic less or more to your taste, finely chopped, divided
- 1 plum tomato medium, chopped, optional
- hot pepper to taste
- 4 pimento peppers Caribbean seasoning pepper, chopped, divided
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or your preferred oil
- 2 tablespoons curry powder if you have a light curry or like lots of sauce, use 3 tablespoons
- 1 tsp cumin optional
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Make Green Seasoning: Using a knife or food processor finely chop scallions, peppers, onion and garlic. Set aside 1/4 of each to cook in the curry.
- Peel, devein and wash shrimp in cold water. Season with the remainder of the culantro, garlic, onion chopped tomatoes, salt, pepper and marinate for several hours, overnight or not at all.
- Heat oil in a narrow, heavy bottomed pot, add a few slices of onion and slices of pepper--if you are using. Cook until the edges are golden brown.
- Add curry and cook about 2-3 minutes. Add about 1/2 cup of water and the remainder of the seasoning (culantro, garlic, hot pepper). Stir frequently, and cook until all the liquid has evaporated and the curry becomes grainy and separates from the oil, about 3-5 minutes.
- If using potato, add now and stir continuously for 2 mins. Add about 1 cup water, cover and cook until tender about 10-15 minutes--then add shrimp and stir for 2 minutes.
- If you are not using potato, add shrimp and cook for 2-3 minutes stirring frequently. Cover and allow the shrimp to release its juices, checking and stirring in a basting motion every couple of minutes. Add about 1 cup of water if the shrimp does not release enough liquid or you want a lot of sauce.
- Cook until the desired result is achieved--determine whether you want sauce or not, total about 15 minutes. Taste for salt and pepper and add as required.
