| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 1 hr 30 min |
| Prep: | 45 min |
| Cook: | 45 min |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 ounces peanut oil, plus 2 ounces
- 24 jumbo shrimp
- 3 cloves garlic, smashed
- 1/4 cup chopped ginger
- 1/4 cup chopped green onions
- 2 stalks lemongrass, chopped
- 1 green apple, cored and chopped
- 1/2 cup chopped galangal
- 2 bananas, peeled and chopped
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 4 tablespoons curry powder
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1 lime, juiced
- 1 orange, juiced
- 4 tablespoons tamarind paste
- 5 cups coconut milk
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
- 1/4 cup torn Thai basil leaves
- 3 kaffir lime leaves
- Coconut Rice, recipe follows
- 2 cups jasmine rice
- 1/4 pound butter
- 1 orange, zested
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 cup fresh grated coconut
- Pinch saffron
- 1/4 cup chiffonade cilantro, Thai basil, or mint leaves
Instructions
- In a saucepan, add peanut oil and heat. When the oil is hot, add the shrimp and saute quickly, just until they start to turn pink, but are not cooked through. Remove the shrimp from the pan to a plate.
- Add the garlic, ginger, green onion, lemongrass, apple, galangal, and bananas to the same pan and saute until soft with no color, about 4 minutes. Add cumin and curry powder and saute for 1 minute. Add the lemon, lime, and orange juice along with the tamarind paste, coconut milk, and cilantro. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes.
- Strain the sauce and return to the heat. Add the Thai basil and kaffir lime leaves.
- Place the shrimp in the sauce and cook until just heated through. Place some rice on each plate. Top the rice with 3 shrimp and surround with the sauce.
- Rinse the rice 2 or 3 times and drain well. Set up a bamboo steamer on the stove. Place the rice in a metal bowl and fill with boiling water until the water is 1/2 inch above the rice. Place the bowl in the steamer and steam until tender, about 20 minutes.
- Remove the cooked rice from the steamer and cool slightly. To the slightly cooled rice, add the butter, orange zest, cumin, and coconut. Stir until well mixed and add the saffron. Before serving, stir in the cilantro.
Reviews
WISH I would have read the reviews about the tamarind paste before making this dish! I must have been using the concentrated version because it TOTALLY overpowered the dish and made it sort of inedible-I added some sugar to try and save it but not so amazing…I really wish the tamarind direction was way more specific before I made this! so disappointing!!
I couldn’t find Tamarind in my grocery store, but then found some in my pantry. I noticed it said “concentrated”, so I tasted it. Good thing I didn’t put the 4 TBLS per the recipe. That stuff is strong. I only used 1 tsp, and the dish came out perfect!
I also didn’t strain the sauce, and my family loved the little chunks of apples and bananas.
I would definitely make this again!
This recipe rocked. We wanted to do something with bananas, fish, and curry, and this was perfect. We substituted turbot fillet for the shrimp and store-bought green Thai curry paste for the spice blend, and it came out terrific.
Yes, I believe, also, that this is too much tamarind but that also just may be my taste. A lot of people like me are not big fans of tamarind. Whenever I see tamarind paste in a recipe I substitute a half and half mixture of lime juice and rice vinegar in an amount equal to the amount of tamarind called for with very favorable results. Hope this is helpful.
The Tamarind paste seems like way too much. Totally ruined my dish. Its possible that my tamarind paste is more consentrated than his. I would use your own judgement.