Shrimp and Coconut Curry with Green Beans

Yum! This recipe for Shrimp and Coconut Curry with Green Beans is one of those recipes that you won't believe you can actually make something that tastes this good. It's nice and rich and the green beans are a fun ingredient to have in curry.

Shrimp and Coconut Curry with Green Beans 4 Servings 3/4 pound green beans, trimmed, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces 3 lemongrass stalks 1 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro 2/3 cup coarsely chopped shallots 1/4 cup coarsely chopped seeded jalapeno chiles 2 tablespoons Indian curry powder (such as Madras) 1 tablespoon coarsely chopped peeled fresh ginger 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil plus sliced leaves (for garnish) 1/4 cup water 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 2 cups canned unsweetened coconut milk 2 1/2 pounds uncooked medium shrimp, peeled, deveined Lime wedges

Cook beans in large pot of boiling salted water until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Drain. Cut 2 inches from bottom of each lemongrass stalk; discard tops. Thinly slice bottom pieces; place in processor. Add next 5 ingredients, chopped basil, and 1/4 cup water. Blend until paste forms.

Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add curry paste; cook, stirring often, until dry, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in coconut milk; bring to simmer. Add shrimp; reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until shrimp are just opaque in center, about 5 minutes. Add green beans; stir to heat through. Season curry with salt and pepper. Transfer 2 cups curry to bowl; cover, chill and reserve for quesadillas. Transfer remaining curry to serving bowl; garnish with basil. Serve with lime wedges and Fresh Orange-Apple Chutney.

Poached Shrimp (in a slow-cooked onion sauce)

This recipe is sick! And I mean that in the "urban dictionary" way: crazy, cool, insane. It all revolves around this amazing sauce which has the consistency of a thick pasta sauce (which is possibly why they suggest serving it over pasta) with some really creative flavors. The core come from the fried onion paste which is made from caramelized onions. Add to that a bunch of other spices and slow cook it until everything blends together and then serve it with some shrimp... heaven!

Poached Shrimp in a Slow-Cooked Onion Sauce bhuna hua jhinga serves 6 2 Tablespoons canola oil 4 lengthwise slices fresh ginger (each 2 inches long, 1 inch wide, and 1/8 inch thick), coarsely chopped 1 cup Fried Onion Paste 2 tablespoons tomato paste 2 teaspoons mango powder or fresh lime juice 2 teaspoons coriander seeds, ground 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, ground 1 teaspoon fine black salt 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric 1/2 teaspoon cayenne (ground red pepper) 1 pound large shrimp (16 to 20 per pound), peeled and deveined but tails left on 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems for garnishing

Heat the oil in a medium-size saucepan over medium heat. Add the ginger and garlic, and stir-fry until golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer the garlic and ginger to a blender jar. Pour in 3/4 cup water, followed by the onion paste and tomato paste. Puree, scraping the inside of the jar as needed, to form a thick, reddish-brown paste. Transfer the paste to the same saucepan. Pour 1/4 cup water into the blender jar and swish it around to wash it out. Add this to the pan.

Stir in the mango powder, coriander, cumin, black salt, turmeric, and cayenne. Cover the pan and simmer the sauce over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the oil starts to form a few shiny drops around the edges, 5 to 8 minutes.

Stir in 1/2 cup water, cover the pan, and simmer, stiffing occasionally, until there is a thin film of oil on the surface, 8 to 10 minutes.

Pour in 1/2 cup water and repeat one last time: cover the pan and simmer, stirring occasionally, until there is a thin film of oil on the surface, 8 to 10 minutes.

Add the shrimp and stir once or twice. Cover the pan and poach, stirring occasionally, until the shrimp are salmon-orange, curled, and tender, 8 to 10 minutes.

Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

Tea and Ginger Simmered Chickpeas

The best thing about this recipe was all the new and neat things I got to try. I was first attracted to it because it use TEA in the cooking. I'm a huge tea fan and I have all sorts of loose-leaf tea around. I usually drink it but using it to cook with sounded to good to be true. Another thing about this recipe is that it is for chickpeas and I always try to find new things to do with legumes. I'd like to eat more vegetarian and tasty recipes are always keepers. And chickpeas are much more "approachable" to the rest of my family than some other legumes like lentils and beans.

So in addition to all the reasons I wanted to try the recipe in the first place, I had a bunch of fun when preparing it because there are some unique ingredients I have not been exposed to before. Like the use of mustard oil. It says you can use canola oil but I grabbed a bottle while I was at the Indian grocer. After I added the cumin seeds I bent my head over the pan to take a whiff and I almost choked! I thought I was smelling for the toasting of the cumin seeds but I inhaled a whole bunch of horseradish smell! Definitely can open up the sinuses.

When I took my first bite of these chickpeas I thought they were bland. So I took a second and scooped up some of the sauce and it was much better. By the third bite the flavors were coming through and after that I couldn't stop until I polished off my whole bowl. I will say that I think this is a bit salty, but I'm not sure if Indian food is supposed to be this way or not. It does call for 1 1/2 tsp. of salt which is quite a lot!

Tea and Ginger Simmered Chickpeas chai patte waali chana serves 6 2 tablespoons black tea leaves, preferably Darjeeling 2 tablespoons mustard oil or canola oil 1 tablespoon cumin seeds 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh ginger 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic 2 to 4 fresh green Thai, cayenne, or serrano chiles, to taste, stems removed, thinly sliced crosswise (do not remove the seeds) 3 cups cooked chickpeas 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse kosher or sea salt 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric Juice of 1 medium-size lime

Bring 2 cups water to a rolling boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Sprinkle in the tea leaves, remove the pan from the heat, and allow the tea to steep for about 5 minutes; it will turn the water a deep reddish brown. Strain the infusion, discarding the swollen leaves.

Heat the oil in a medium-size saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the cumin sees and cook until they sizzle, turn reddish brown, and smell fragrant, 5 to 10 seconds. Then add the ginger, garlic and chiles, and stir-fry until the ginger and garlic are light brown and the chiles smell pungent, 1 to 2 minutes.

Stir in the chickpeas, cilantro, salt, and turmeric. Cook, making sure every chickpea gets well coated with the seasonings, until the turmeric is cooked, about 1 minute. Pour in the brewed tea, stir once or twice, and bring to a boil. Then lower the heat to medium and cook, uncovered, until the sauce has thickened slightly, 8 to 10 minutes.

Stir in the lime juice and serve.

Indian Noodles (the cheating way)

Some nights I just can't make dinner. I either don't feel like it or don't have time. Or am just busy wanting to do other things like tonight when I was busy waiting for my Vosges Exotic Ice Creams to soften up so I could try them. So I made one of my favorite throw-togethers.

I discovered the combination quite by accident one day at work. I brought regular old spaghetti with some type of tomato sauce I had made the night before as leftovers for my lunch. But the sauce had kind of disintegrated somehow and had no taste. One of the gals I was working with had whipped up some amazing potato curry the night before which she was heating up for her rice. She offered me some so I dumped it on top of my bland pasta. I was looking for some spice but I got so much more. The heat of the curry and the texture of the noodles introduced me to a new meal! And the soft Indian potatoes were so tasty in there as well. I never in a million years would have thought to mix potatoes in with my pasta. Two starches!

That began me on my quest for curry. I really would like to make curry but I have not mastered that yet. Maybe because I have some over-complicated Indian cookbooks, but I am still intimidated by the curry. Not the spice, the recipe. But lucky for me the American grocery stores now carry several ready made curry-like sauces. All you have to do is heat and serve.


Tonight I used lentils in cream sauce. The cream added some thickness that sometimes gets thinned out when combining ready-made curry with noodles. For the pasta, I used the other half of the elbow macaroni box leftover from when I made "Healthy" Four Cheese Macaroni last week. I usually make this with angel hair because i like the lightness of the noodle, but the elbows worked well too. They kept the lightness because the noodle itself is small and yet its shape allows some of the sauce to stick to it.

To make it, all you have to do is heat up the lentils in the microwave for two minutes and mix together! The only hard part to the recipe is to make sure you don't have too much pasta and not enough sauce. So instead of mixing the sauce into the pasta, I mix the pasta into the sauce a few ladels at a time. Then I give the leftover pasta to the dogs.


note* one cup of pasta plus one serving of the lentils in tomato cream sauce is 7 Weight Watchers points.

Trini's Curried Pumpkin and Rice

Coffer over at My Khazana of Recipes has started a new blogging event. January's theme for the first Monthly Blogging Patrol is Around the World.

Earlier this week I found the recipe for Curried Pumpkin and Rice on TriniGourmet.com. Her photo of the finished dish looked so amazing. When I read the ingredients I was hooked. Curry and Pumpkin. Two things I have wanted to start cooking more with. As a matter of fact, I have never cooked anything with a fresh pumpkin before so I got excited and immediately added the ingredients needed to my grocery list.


I will admit that I had a bit of an adventure trying to find a pumpkin in January. I know they are really popular in October and November, but I assumed I could get them year round. Not true, at least at the supermarkets near me here in Florida. My backup plan was to use a butternut squash or something like that. But I couldn't find any of those either. Finally I spotted some type of squash thing near the cut up cantaloupe and fresh papaya. It was called Squash Calabaza. I asked the guy at the counter if it was similar to a pumpkin. He said it's Spanish pumpkin. So I was set.

There so many reasons I can recommend trying this recipe. Here are my top 5 (except for the obvious that it tastes great):

1. This meal for 6 costs less than $10
2. You get to cook with fun ingredients like pumpkin and curry
3. It is very filling and very healthy. You can even use brown rice if you want.
4. Leftovers! This will make great lunches throughout the week.
5. Your house will smell great while it's cooking.


The final dish comes out more like and Italian Risotto than what I consider to be a traditional, saucy curry. And while it is filling, unlike Risotto, it is not overly heavy. It is almost refreshingly fulfilling if that makes sense. There must be something about the pumpkin. I did prefer it when I left my pumpkin in cubes rather than smashing the bits up as the recipe suggests. And I added a lot of Cilantro because that added an element of freshness.

Be hungry when you make this because the recipe makes yields quite a bit of food. I already have two Tupperware containers filled with my lunches for Monday and Tuesday. And tomorrow night the dogs are going to be getting some with dinner.

This is definitely a recipe that I will make again . . . and I rarely make anything twice.

note* based on six servings, a serving of this made with white rice is 7 Weight Watchers points.