Shrimp Curry

I love Indian food. I've never successfully made a curry of any kind. It's either too bland, not spicy enough, not authentic enough, something is always just... missing. When I came across this Shrimp Curry recipe over at An Edible Symphony, I had to give it one more go. And I'm sure glad I did. I finally mastered the art of an Indian style curry. The smells permeated the whole house and during out whole meal Andy kept saying "I'd order this in a restaurant"... and I felt good. I felt accomplished. I felt I could take on the world... well, maybe now I'm exaggerating... but needless to say, this was simply delicious.

Ingredients:
slightly adapted from Edible Symphony's recipe

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1-2 teaspoons ginger, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 teaspoons white vinegar
1/4 teaspoon tumeric
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
2 tablespoons canola oil
8 dried red chilies (yeah, I said 8... we like it spicy)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons curry powder
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 lb frozen shrimp
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons butter

Put first 7 ingredients into food processor and pulse until resembles a nice paste. Set aside.

Heat canola oil in large pan under medium-high heat and heat dried chilies until they turn dark. Be careful not to burn them though. This should be fairly quick, no more than 1 minute.

Then add in onion and cook until they are translucent and starting to brown. Add sugar and spice paste and let cook for about another minute.


Add in tomatoes and curry powder. The original recipe called for curry leaves and I was kind of hesitant to use the curry powder. I had just got done watching an episode of "The Next Iron Chef" on Food Network and they're challenge was to cook Indian food. One of the contestants used curry powder in his dish and was completely mauled by the Indian chef judge, so I was kind of scared of the result. But needless to say, curry leaves aren't very prevalent here in Louisville (although there is an Indian grocery down the road from us and I failed to look there), I opted for the curry powder and it was still delicious. Cook the tomatoes until they lose some of their moisture and then add in coconut milk. Simmer mixture for about 5 minutes. This is when the house starts smelling REALLY good.

In a medium bowl, sprinkle the shrimp generously with salt and pepper.

In a separate pan, melt the butter and add shrimp. The frozen shrimp are already cooked so you're pretty much just heating them through.

When shrimp are hot and cooked through, add them to curry. Taste curry for salt and serve over basmati rice.

This was incredibly easy and quick. I've always thought of curry as being somewhat tedious, but this recipe is not at all. The result was some spicy, authentic-tasting, mouth watering curry. I loved every bite. A pharmacist I work with even ate the cold leftovers the next day and said it was the best curry he had ever tasted. Now if you can eat something cold and say it's the best you've ever had... that says something. Enjoy!