Goan-Style Shrimp Curry

I’m fascinated with Indian food. I fully admit it. It may even be my favourite food right now. It’s not that I even go out for Indian food that often, I probably have been to an Indian restaurant for at least 6 months. It’s more that there’s something about Indian food that makes me want to master the art of cooking Indian food. Seriously, if you even knew the number of chickpea curries I’ve attempted…

For whatever reason the dishes always turn out tasty enough but not as good as my fave Indian restaurant (Tabla in NYC) or even my fave cheap-n-dirty Indian restaurants (think 6th Street in NYC). But every once in a while I find a gem. This would be one of them.

This recipe appeared in the New York Times back in March. I’m not sure that I’d ever had a Goan-Style curry before but this recipe sounded like a winner. The ingredients were simple enough and all in my pantry. This gave me pause because sometimes I get in the mindset that if I’m not tracking down curry leaves or tamarind paste or something else kind of obscure, that the recipe won’t be authentic. But usually I can get over that especially if it’s an Indian recipe that doesn’t require me to grind spices by hand or make my own coconut milk.

I LOVED the results.  It was definitely a huge hit in my household.  I didn’t make any changes to recipe at all and probably wouldn’t do anything different the next time.  Now that I’m thinking about this recipe again I may have to add it to my meal rotation for next week…

GOAN-STYLE SHRIMP CURRY

Adapted from Suvir Saran and Hemant Mathur, Devi

Time: 25 minutes

1 1/3pounds large shrimp, peeled and deveined
Kosher salt
Ground black pepper
1/8teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4cup canola oil
4 dried red chilies
1 3-inch piece ginger, peeled and minced
1 medium red onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
3 cups canned chopped tomatoes, with juice
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro.

1. Place shrimp in a gallon-size resealable plastic bag, and add 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, 1/8 teaspoon black pepper and cayenne. Mix well and refrigerate.

2. In a deep skillet or sauté pan over medium-high heat, combine oil and chilies and stir 1 to 2 minutes. Add 1/4 teaspoon black pepper and cook for 1 minute longer. Add ginger, onion, 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt and sauté until onion is soft and translucent, 5 to 8 minutes. Add garlic, ground coriander and turmeric and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute.

3. Reduce heat to medium-low and add tomatoes. Stir, scraping sides and bottom of pot, for 1 minute. Increase heat to medium-high and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring often.

4. Stir in curry powder and cook for 1 minute. Add coconut milk, bring to a boil, and add shrimp. Bring to a simmer and cook until shrimp are opaque, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in cilantro. If desired, serve with rice.

Yield: 3 to 4 servings.

(From the New York Times)

Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip and Pecan Cookies

Well after an extended absence from the blogosphere (I’ve been looking for a reason to use that word), I’m back. I wish I could say that I was out pursuing bigger and better things but truth be told I’ve been stuck in the rut of life and work, work and life. Plus my camera has been misbehaving which makes things here less exciting. But now I’m back and thinking of ways to revamp this site a bit. Perhaps that will be my summer goal. I also want to get a better camera… that may be a job for Uncle Sam (if the IRS hasn’t lost my tax return as I fear… but I digress…).

While I’ve been off line I’ve still been cooking, not as elaborately as I tend to but a girl has to eat. Last night I had a serious craving for some oatmeal cookies. Earlier last week I had a doctor’s appointment at 7:30AM (!) and decided to stop by Pusateri’s to get some breakfast. I bought a croissant and the most delicious breakfast cookie ever (I didn’t say healthy or balanced breakfast!). What I really wanted to make were breakfast cookies, but who am I kidding, my morning hunger cannot be satisfied by a measly cookie or two… unless it is accompanied by bacon,e ggs an toast. So I settled for some run of th email Oatmeal Cookies.

I’m always on the lookout for great cookie recipes… I always make OK cookies but not FAB ones. I came across this recipe from Cooking Light and figured that it had a enough positive reviews to make it worth my time.  These cookies are amazing!  I made some changes along the way.  I didn’t have any brown sugar at home and when i went to my bulk store all their brown sugar was super hard.  I thought about substituting some brown rice syrup that I have in my cupboard but I was feeling the need to go there so I used about 1 cup of white sugar total instead of between two sugars.  I really like my oatmeal cookies with some dried fruit action so I added about 1/4 cup of dried cranberries (i don’t do raisins).  I also swapped out the pecans for blanched, slivered almonds.  Oh, and I added a 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon. yum.

The key to my success with the cookies was definitely the cooking time.  The recipe says to bake the cookies for 12 minutes.  In my oven 9 minutes was perfection.  I ate entirely too many cookies warm out of the oven.  I think this is the way nature intended for us to eat them so I don’t feel to bad about that.  The cookies had a great crunch/firmness to the outside and they were soft and chewy on the inside.  I’m on day two with these cookies and they are crunchier than they were but still delicious.

This cookie recipe may be my “go to” oatmeal cookie recipe.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (about 5 1/2 ounces)
1 cup regular oats
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate minichips

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (through salt), stirring with a whisk; set aside.

Place sugars and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add vanilla and egg; beat until blended. Gradually add flour mixture, beating at low speed just until combined. Stir in pecans and minichips. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350° for 12 minutes or until edges of cookies are lightly browned. Cool on pans 2 minutes. Remove cookies from pans; cool on wire racks.

Yield

3 dozen (serving size: 1 cookie)

(recipe from Cooking Light via myrecipes.com)