Stir-Fried Shrimp in Aromatic Tomato Cream Sauce

pattikay in L.A.'s Note:

From Madhur Jaffrey's Quick and Easy Indian Cooking, posted for ZWT IV.

• Total Time: 20 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

Sauce

• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/8-1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 1 fresh green chile, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 7 ounces coconut milk, well stirred (or 7/8 cup cream)

Shrimp Stir fry

• 3 tablespoons oil
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
• 10 -15 curry leaves (optional)
• 1 1/4 lbs medium shrimp, peeled, deveined, washed and patted dry

Directions:

1. Make the sauce:.
2. Put the tomato paste in a bowl. Add the salt, sugar, garam masala, cumin, cayenne, cilantro, green chili, lemon juice, (if using dried curry leaves, add them at this point - fresh go in with the stir fry), and 1 T water.
3. Mix well. Slowly add the coconut milk or cream, mixing as you go. Set aside.
4. The sauce can be made ahead and refrigerated for several hours.
5. Stir-fry:.
6. Put oil in wok or skillet and set over medium high heat. When oil is hot, put in the mustard seeds. As soon as they begin to pop - a few seconds - put in the garlic and fresh curry leaves, if using.
7. Stir till garlic turns medium brown and put in the shrimp.
8. stir till the shrimp turns opaque most of the way through.
9. Add the sauce, turn the heat to medium and heat sauce through till it begins to simmer. The shrimp should be completely opaque and cooked thorugh. Turn off heat.

Reviews

[Dr. Jenny]

DH and I made this stir-fried shrimp dish for lunch today. We enjoyed it, but felt something was missing. I made no alterations to the recipe and even included the fresh curry leaves. I wonder if it is because I used lite unsweetened coconut milk---maybe it was supposed to be sweetened? The recipe did not state. Anyway, we did like the dish and thought it was really easy to prepare. We served it over jasmine rice.

[dianegrapegrower]

I left out the chile due to allergies, but used the larger amount of cayenne. The dish was unpleasantly hot - will use the lesser amount of cayenne next time. (DH is a chili-head, and even he also complained about the cayenne overpowering the other seasonings.)