Shrimp Curry

We have been working our way thru Skye Gyngell cookbook: A Year In The Kitchen, and decided to try another recipe from it: Lobster Curry With Tamarind, Roasted Coconut, Ginger, And Coriander.

However, we substituted Shrimp for the Lobster.

This year at the Hollywood Farmer’s Market, the cherries have been exceptional. In fact, I believe they are the best that they have ever had. There are multiple varieties that appear one week, the next week they are gone and different ones appear. Our usual method is to walk the length of the market, tasting one of every cherry and then deciding which we like the best. On our return walk we then purchase them, assuming someone hasn’t cleaned them out of cherries first!

At Palate we had a alad made with fresh cherries. I always like salads with fresh fruit (the only kind of salad with fruit my Mother ever made was cottage cheese with canned peaches, or if she didn’t have canned peaches just cottage cheese with pineapple). At any rate, without a recipe we created a Fresh Cherry Salad with cheese from The Cheese Store of Silverlake and Hazelnuts from Mozza2Go. We used two types of Cherries: Rainier and Bing. It was a very refreshing salad, we will repeat next year – when the cherries return.

The Shrimp Curry was delicious. It was not like a spicy Indian Curry, but much more a Malaysian or Thai influenced curry with the sourness of tamarind and the Coconut Milk. When we had finished the leftovers the next night of the shrimp Curry, we still had curry sauce. I liked it so much we roasted florets of cauliflower and added it to the sauce giving it new life as Cauliflower Curry. A decided Buddhist reincarnation of the sauce– very appropriate.

Lobster Curry With Tamarind, Roasted Coconut, Ginger, And Coriander

A Year In The Kitchen

Skye Gyngell

This dish is based upon a style of cooking that is typical along India's southwest coast, though I have added fish sauce and sugar, which are not traditional ingredients. If lobster seems too extravagant, you could use any clean, firm-fleshed fish—monkfish would be perfect.

Serves 4

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 very fresh, live lobsters, about 1 pound 2 ounces each

3          tbsp vegetable oil

2          onions, peeled and finely sliced

2-inch piece fresh gingerroot, peeled and finely diced

4          cloves garlic, peeled and minced

2          fresh red chiles, chopped

1          tsp coriander seeds, toasted

5          ripe tomatoes, chopped

1          tbsp superfine sugar

3          tbsp fish sauce

3          tbsp tamarind water

generous 2-1/2 cups canned coconut milk

1/2 cup unsweetened dried coconut flakes, lightly toasted

Bring a large pan of well-salted water to a fast boil, then drop in the lobsters and cook for 8 minutes. Remove from the pan and leave until cool enough to handle, then extract the meat. Take a sharp knife and make an incision all the way down the middle of the body. Remove the flesh and cut into medallions, discarding the stomach sac and the dark intestinal thread, which runs the length of the body. Crack the large claws with the back of a heavy knife and gently remove the meat. Save the legs for garnish.

Heat the oil in a heavy pan over medium heat. Add the onions, lower the heat a little, and cook gently, stirring every now and then, until they are translucent.

Meanwhile, put the ginger, garlic, chiles, coriander seeds, and tomatoes in a blender and whiz to a paste. Scrape out the mixture and add it to the onions in the pan. Cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes.

Add the sugar, fish sauce, and tamarind water and stir well, then pour in the coconut milk. Turn the heat to medium and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the cooked lobster and heat gently for z to 3 minutes, until it is just warmed through. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Ladle the curry into warm bowls or soup plates and garnish with the reserved lobster legs and toasted coconut flakes to serve.