Shrimp curry in coconut milk

This simple shrimp curry is my go-to recipe when I want something comforting, quick and easy. There's hardly any prep involved if you buy peeled and deveined frozen shrimp. It uses very few ingredients, so I usually make this when I'm short on fresh produce.

Ingredients:

Shrimp - 1 pound, peeled and deveined
Onion - 1 large
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Garlic - 2 to 3 large cloves
Fresh chillies - 3 or 4 (green or red)
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Tomato - 1 large
Red chilli powder - 2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
Cinnamon - 1 inch piece
Cardamom seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cloves - 4 or 5
Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt to taste

Method:

Wash and clean the shrimp. In a bowl, add the shrimp, 1 tsp red chilli powder, 1/2 tsp turmeric powder, 1/2 tsp garam masala and 1 tsp salt. Mix and keep aside to marinate.
Meanwhile dice the onions, ginger, garlic and tomato. Slit the chillies in half.
In a large pan, heat a tablespoon of oil.
Add whole spices - cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and fennel seeds.
Then add the onions, ginger, garlic, chillies and curry leaves. Add some salt. Fry until onions turn translucent.
Now add a teaspoon of red chilli powder, one tablespoon of coriander powder and a pinch of turmeric powder.
Once the spices have fried in the oil, add the chopped tomato. Cover and cook for about 5 minutes till the tomato turns soft.
Then add a cup of water to the mixture and 1/2 a cup of coconut milk. Gently stir on med-low heat so the coconut milk doesn't split, but we want to heat it through.
Now add the shrimp and the remaining coconut milk. Cover and let simmer for about 10 minutes.
Do not let the curry boil or it could split the coconut milk.
Serve hot with some steamed white rice.

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Parmesan Roasted Potatoes

Another recipe I made last Christmas and again this year. This was served as a side to my main course of herb marinated lamb rack.

Ingredients:

4 cups cubed Yukon Gold potatoes
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp pepper
4 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Method:

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
Place the cubed potatoes into a baking dish. (The cubes of potatoes should be about 3/4 of an inch on all sides) You can spray the baking dish with a baking spray too to eliminate anything possibly sticking
Pile on the olive oil, garlic salt, salt, paprika, pepper and Parmesan cheese. Using your fingers, or a spoon if you feel inclined, get in to the potatoes and carefully mix everything around until the seasonings coat each potato.
Transfer the baking dish into the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and toss the potatoes with a pair of tongs. Put the baking dish back into the oven and bake for 10 minutes more. Remove the baking sheet and give them another toss and place them back in the oven and roast until they are golden and crispy.
Season with an little dusting of sea salt and extra parmesan cheese and serve.

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Shrimp and Veggie Pasta Casserole

This is one my most favorite casseroles. I love shrimp and I love white sauce. Combine it with pasta, mixed veggies and you've got a solid meal!
This recipe is inspired from a mix of two recipes. One from the heritagecook and the other from stacey snacks.

Ingredients:

For shrimp:
Large shrimp - 1 pound (1/2 kg) - shelled and deveined
Garlic - 3 cloves - minced
Green onions (spring onions) - 2 stalks
Butter - 4 tbsp - softened
Lemon juice - 1 tbsp
Ground black pepper - 1 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp (optional)
Salt to taste

For garnish:
Panko breadcrumbs - 4 tbsp
Canola oil - 1 tsp
Parsley - 3 sprigs - minced
Grated parmesan cheese (optional) - as per taste

Pasta:
Linguine pasta - as per serving nos.
Water - to fill 3/4 of a stock pot
Salt to taste
Olive oil - 1 tbsp

For Bechamel (white sauce):
Butter - 2 tbsp
Flour - 2 tbsp
Milk - 1 cup (warmed or at least at room temperature)
Cream - 1/4 cup (optional)
Pepper - 1 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Salt to taste

For veggie mix:
Cooking wine - 3/4 cup (I used rice cooking wine)
Green onions - 2 stalks
Yellow onion - 1/2 chopped
Frozen mixed vegetables - 1 cup
Oil - 1 tbsp

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Mix salt and lemon juice with shrimp and leave for 10 minutes. Meanwhile mix all the other ingredients in the shrimp section to form a buttery paste. Add this paste to the shrimp and coat well.
Lightly cook linguine pasta in boiling water in a stock pot with salt and olive oil. Drain and place onto the casserole dish. This is your first layer.
Onto the sauce. In a sauce pan, melt butter on medium heat. Add flour and whisk until smooth and also giving some time for the flour to cook. This mixture is called the 'roux'. To this add a small amount of milk and whisk so that no lumps are formed. Add the rest of the milk and cream if using. You could also use half and half. The sauce will thicken. Season with salt, pepper and paprika if desired, and your bechamel sauce is ready.
In a separate pan, heat oil on medium heat. Fry the onions and whites of the green onions until soft. Then add the thawed mix of frozen vegetables. You could also use a mix of fresh vegetables. You can use your preferred combination like green peas, french beans, carrots, broccoli, corn kernels. Add remaining green onions. Pour the white wine into this and allow to cook until its reduced and thickened (for about 2-3 minutes). The alcohol would evaporate at this stage, but you could leave the wine out if you dont want the flavor. Pour this mixture into the bechamel sauce and combine well.
Pour this mixture all over the paste in the casserole. Use a fork to shake it a little so that the sauce seeps through the pasta.
Now for the third layer - place the shrimp mixture over this.
For the garnish, mix the canola oil with the panko or breadcrumbs so that its lightly coated but still fluffy. Mix grated parmesan cheese if desired. Sprinkle over the top of the casserole. Sprinkle chopped parsley over this.
Bake in the oven for 25 minutes. I had some leftover cooked bacon strips that I crumbled on top as well, so that I don't have to throw them away. It added more flavor to the already awesome dish!

Note: For a simple shrimp appetizer, you can just bake the shrimp mixture alone with the garnishing at 425 degrees F for 12-15 minutes, until the crumbs are golden brown and shrimp is cooked through.
Also the recipe of the bechamel sauce is very versatile and is used in many continental dishes.

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Penne Pasta with shrimp and chicken sausage

So I was lazing around on Saturday when I was supposed to finish some work. Wasted lots of time watching tv and at around 10.30pm, I started to get the hunger pangs coz the last time I ate something was in the morning. There's so much of chaos outside my house, lots of kids running and shouting about, huge family get togethers happening on a Saturday night. Ignoring the ruckus outside I decided to fix something really fast, and walk into the kitchen to see a huge pile of dishes in the sink and on the countertop. If I had to fix anything, I had to first clear out the dishes. I quickly set myself at the task so that my hunger doesnt start to give me a headache. Almost finished, suddenly we lost power. If it goes late at night, surely its some problem and it should be back soon. I wait it out by watching the latest episode of Desperate Housewives I downloaded. Power comes back after half an hour. I pause the episode, return to the kitchen and finish the remaining dishes. I decided to do a quick one pot meal. No referring recipes, just dumping stuff I had around the kitchen to make one nice hearty meal. I saw a packet of penne pasta and put that onto boil. I check the freezer and got out one last chicken sausage lying in there. Ooh a packet of small shrimps. Thought I'll use em too and get it out to defrost. Checked the refrigerator, found one red capsicum and a packet of cherry tomatoes. I start chopping the vegetables and I lost power again. Grrrrr... I wait it out again, ignoring the hunger pangs again. Resumed my tv episode and it got over too. Just waited silently in the dark, and got it back again in another 10 minutes. I slice an onion, mince some garlic, drained the pasta, put the shrimps to boil (I cant eat it raw like some people do). And yet again, I lose power. God, this is so damn frustrating now!! I switched off the boiling shrimps coz I did not want to overcook it, wait again, and its back after 10 minutes. Thankfully, I managed to prepare the rest of the meal without losing any power. The recipe is explained below. So I plated it nicely to take a picture to post it on the blog. The first one I took is the one you saw above. The dish did look nice and colorful. But I notice that some of the penne is jutting out awkwardly on the sides and maybe I should re-arrange it a bit more to look more elegant. I focus my camera again and click. At that very second I clicked, guess what happened. Look at the shot I got and take a wild guess!! Aaarrggh!!

Ingredients:

Penne pasta - 250 grams

Cherry tomatoes - 10 pcs.

Tomato puree - 1/2 cup

Chilli-garlic sauce or any hot sauce - 1 tbsp.

Capsicum - 1/2 or 1 whole

Onion - 1

Garlic - 3 cloves

Chicken sausage - 1 large

Shrimps - 1/4 cup

Parmesan cheese - 1/4 cup, grated
Olive oil - 3 tbsp.

Black Olives - 6 or 7, pitted

Parsley - to garnish

Oregano, Italian seasoning - a pinch

Method:

Boil penne pasta as per instructions on packet, with some salt and oil. Drain and keep aside.

Chop the cherry tomatoes, capsicum, slice onions and mince garlic. Chop the chicken sausage into bite size pieces, grate the parmesan cheese. Wash and clean shrimps and boil it for about 5 minutes and drain. Slice pitted olives and chop parsley.

Take a heavy bottomed pan, heat 3 tbsp olive oil, add the minced garlic, sliced onions and capsicum. Cook until soft. Sprinkle the Italian seasoning (I added some garlic bread seasoning I had) and oregano. Add shrimp and sausages and toss to coat with oil. Add chilli-garlic sauce. Add the cherry tomatoes and tomato puree. Toss again. Lower heat, cover the pan, and simmer for about 5 mins. Open and add parmesan cheese (leave some for garnish). Add the pasta little by little, tossing at the same time to coat it with the sauce. Take off the heat. Sprinkle black olives, parsley and parmesan cheese. Serve hot.

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Chemmeen Vada - Minced Shrimp Fritters

Credit: Mishmash

Ingredients:

250 gms small shrimp peeled, deveined and washed thoroughly.
4-5 small red pearl onions/shallots
3/4 tbsp finely chopped ginger
7-9 fresh green chillies
A small sprig of curry leaves coarsely chopped
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Method:

Using a small jar of the food processor or blender, make a coarse paste of the small onions, green chillies, ginger and curry leaves. To this, add the cleaned shrimp and run the processor till everything combines well, forming a coarse paste and add turmeric powder and salt to taste. Do not make them too smooth as you do for chutney and other condiments.
Make around 10-12 small balls with this mixture and flatten them into a round shape. For flattening, keep the ball of mixture onto your left palm and press it with your right palm. You can do this either on a plastic wrap sheet or a plantain leaf as well, whichever is convenient.
Heat oil in a small saucepan, deep fry each of them, in low-medium heat, until it is cooked or reaches brown colour. Serve warm with a hot cup of tea/chai.

My note: I only got 6 vadas out of shrimps from a 250g packet. It was good anyway. Tasted like a vada, but not that much of a prawn taste. I felt you could fool a vegetarian with it!

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Chemmeen Peera - Shrimp cooked with Coconut and Gambooge

I think Chemmeen Peera is a truly authentic dish from Kerala that almost symbolizes the coastal cuisine of the state. When people visit Kerala in search of exotic dishes, I think this should be considered a must! Simply lip smacking tangy goodness!
This is an absolutely fabulous dish that goes really well with rice and moru curry. Always a huge hit at home.. gets people to lick their fingers and plates clean.
Credit: http://www.mooshikan.com/index.php/recipes/285-chemmeen-peera-pattichathu

Ingredients:

Small sized prawns: 1/2 kg (I used large and it was still amazing!)
Kudampuli: 2 pieces
Curry leaves: 1 sprig
Turmeric powder: 1/4 tsp
Water: 1/4 cup
Salt: to taste

To grind:
Shredded coconut: 1 cup
Garlic: 3 cloves
Shallots (small onions): 2-3
Ginger: 1/2 inch piece
Green Chilli: 4

For seasoning:
Mustard seeds: 1 tsp
Shallots: 3-4
Curry leaves: 1 sprig
Oil: as needed

Method:

1. Cook prawns with water, kudampuli, salt, curry leaves and turmeric powder.
2. Grind coconut with garlic, ginger, shallots and green chillies.
3. Add the above mixture to cooked prawns and cook for 5-10 mins, or until raw smell is gone.
4. In a seperate pan, heat oil and add mustard seeds, when its done spluttering, add finely sliced shallots and curry leaves. Saute until shallots turn golden brown.
5. Add the cooked shrimp and coconut mixture to the seasoning and mix well.
6. Allow to cook for another 5 mins and switch off. Ready to serve!
I had served it with rice and pineapple pachadi.

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