tropical shrimp curry

My last post was almost a year ago. One of these days I should talk about climbing and a lecture my wife gave me. Someday. I won't apologize, I'll just share a new recipe.

At work yesterday, I was talking Top Chef to one of my coworkers and spouting off about my dinner before we watched the latest episode. Another teacher listened intently and asked, "Recipe?"

She knew full well that's not how I operate in the kitchen most of the time. Seeing as she's a busy mom with two really cool kids that probably don't afford her much time to experiment in the kitchen, I'll do my best to figure out quantities.

First, the ingredients. Most of these ingredients are quickly purchased at an international market that also sells seafood. The curry mixture I bought at H-Mart is from Pakistan, and it's far more complex than the simple curry powder you'll find at the neighborhood supermarket. It has about 10 different spices in it, and the box cost about as much as a small jar of McCormick curry powder. I've had it for six months, and I can be liberal with it because it came in a box, not a shot glass.

The rest:

1-2 lbs. of shrimp
1 can of coconut milk
1 ripe mango, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 red onion, coarsely chopped
3 or 20 cloves of garlic, minced
~1 tbsp. fresh ginger, peeled & minced
1 tbsp. of curry powder
salt & pepper to taste
Sriracha red pepper sauce (optional)

Heat up some cooking oil over medium heat in a wide saute pan. Cook onions, garlic, & ginger together until the onions soften up. Add curry powder; give it a stir for 30 seconds or so. Add coconut milk.

Stir until well-mixed. When coconut milk is warmed, add red peppers & the mango. Stir to incorporate and cover for 1-2 minutes. Remove lid, stir again, and add shrimp.

Cover back up, and cook until shrimp are pink. Mix well, and serve over rice. Serve with Sriracha pepper sauce on the side if you want to add more heat without changing the flavor.

It really is that easy. Most of the effort in this recipe is in the prep work (or mise en place, as the cheftestants call it). Top to bottom, this recipe takes 30-45 minutes to prep, most of which can be trimmed depending on your skill with cleaning shrimp. Buying them pre-cleaned would easily cut this in half.