Red Curry Shrimp

You cannot let the shrimp (on-the-sale) slip by. I never cooked shrimp, and I do not know why I bought it — Maybe I thought I would conjure up some exotic flavour. After checking my pantry, I went with Red Curry Shrimp recipe by Katya. The 20-minute recipe claims to be delicious that “you’ll want to eat by a spoonful!”

However, I had to improvise the recipe as I realized I had made the neophyte error of not measuring the shrimp I had. I had coconut milk powder and cream, but not the canned milk. The curry base comprised red curry in coconut sauce. The aromatics included sweet onion (the recipe asks for red onion), grated ginger, and finely chopped garlic (I find microplaned garlic to be more pungent and ruin the taste of the shrimp). I used a store-bought red curry paste (not wanting to commit another culinary sin of missing an ingredient or two while making a sauce). For vegetables, I used zucchini, mushroom, and sweet peppers. I made the sauce using fish sauce, peanut butter, and honey (sugar can substitute for honey, I’d add brown sugar though).

Ingredients:

  • Vegetable cooking oil
  • 1 med red onion (I used sweet, white onion
  • 1 tbsp grated ginger,
  • 1 ½ tbsp finely chopped garlic
  • 1 (14 oz.) can coconut milk (I made coconut milk using milk powder and adding 1 tbsp of coconut cream
  • 2 tbsp red curry paste
  • 12 oz jumbo shrimp (deveined and patted dry)
  • 1 tbsp of fresh lime juice
  • Zest of lime
  • ¼ Cup finely chopped cilantro

Vegetable:

  • 2 bell peppers (I use different coloured peppers)
    • 1 cup thickly sliced mushroom
    • 1 cup diced zucchini

Sauce:

  • 2 tsp honey
    • 4 tsp fish sauce (a little fish sauce adds saltiness and savoury (umami) flavour to your dish)
    • 1 tbsp honey

Instructions:

  1. Heat oil in a skillet. Add onion and cook it until it gets slightly caramelized.
  2. Add ginger and garlic and cook till you smell a distinct fragrance. You don’t want to burn the garlic.
  3. Add coconut milk, red curry paste, sauce, and water. Simmer the concoction for a few minutes.
  4. Add peppers and vegetables. I prefer my vegetables to be slightly crunchy.
  5. Add salt and black pepper to your taste. Make sure you taste the curry before adding S&P. My curry paste had enough salt that I did not feel it was necessary to add more.
  6. Stir in the shrimp and cook it until the shrimp is pink. After that, I would take the skillet off the stove and let the shrimp cook on its own.
  7. Before serving, add lime zest and lime juice and garnish the dish with cilantro.

I served the red curry shrimp over cooked white rice.