I love Thai food. I am not sure how that love came about, but it is a done deal now. Thai food makes me happier than a pig in the mud. It is the yin to my yang, Thai food completes me. I could wax on rhapsodically about Thai food and the happy feelings it brings about in me…but I will just say I ❤️ Thai food and leave it there. But ooh I might need a bumper sticker that says Cajun Mama ❤️ Thai food for my mini van. Or would that be a little too much?
Anyhow, the other morning, I was on Pinterest, pinning some recipes and I decided to look up curries. Why? You might ask. Well I will tell you. I am a chronic rereader of books. I love to read and once I fall in love with a book, I tend to reread it over and over. It’s a problem but who am I change it? Some of my favorites include The Help, Cane River, and the Shopaholic Series. The whole series. My sister Claire got me hooked on those when the first one came out and I still love them. I have them on my Nook and I tend to reread at least once a year. And in the first one, in an attempt to save money, Becky tries to learn to make her own take away curry. Being from Alex by the way of Marksville and having a daddy who wanted his rice and gravy, there was not much curry on the menu. And frankly, I bet I would not have eaten it back then. My kids were not overly thrilled last night and they dined on the house cereal and milk in protest. Anyway, after reading Confessions of a Shopaholic for the umpteenth time and reading about Becky’s curry cooking debacle, I decided I had to give curry a go. I was curious! I needed to try this. I mean curry is all up in Thai and I love Thai …I need to try this. Enter in Pinterest. Now, of course I come across several curry recipes but I finally see one for coconut shrimp curry and whose blog is it on? Another one of my faves! Pioneer Woman! Her recipes are always a pretty safe bet and knowing I had her leading the way, I decided to make a go of it. My friends, this recipe is really easy to prep and not intimidating at all. You can totally do this and you should. It cries to be made. BD LOVED it and I did too. Your kids might not care much for it, but that is because it is called curry and it has a curry smell. If they had tried it, they would likely have loved it. Well, not my Sugar Cookie aka Kayla Ann…she is allergic to fish and we are pretty sure shrimp or shellfish (long story) and since we want to keep her alive, we keep her away from all seafood as a rule. Anyway, this curry recipe is super simple and the end result is some kind of yum. Try it…unless you are allergic to shrimp or shellfish…don’t do that. 😁

Coconut Shrimp Curry

Stuff you need<

Basmati rice, cooked according to package directions (you can use plain old white rice, but basmati rice is incredibly fragrant and just adds to the lusciousness of this dish)
1 pound medium size shrimp
1 tablespoon butter
1 medium onion, diced fine
1 clove of garlic, diced fine (or 1 teaspoon of the jarred minced garlic)
1 can coconut milk (I like the taste of Thai brand)
Curry powder(I have the McCormick brand and it was just fine)
Honey
Kosher salt
Fresh basil leaves (trust me)
Juice from one medium sized lime
Sriracha sauce (just the sight of that bottle makes me happy. I have issues.)

What to do with the stuff~

Get your rice cooking in a rice cooker or a pot on the stove. I made 1 1/2 cups and that was about right. In a large skillet, melt your butter. Toss in your shrimp and cook until they are opaque or as I call it…lovely cooked shrimp color. There is a fine line between cooked just right shrimp and overcooked shrimp so kind of watch them. For medium size shrimp, a few minutes is really all it takes. Now, remove those pretty opaque cooked just right shrimpies and put them on a plate. Set aside. I have to hide them at this point because big daddy starts sneaking them.
Ok, add a little more butter if you need to and add the onions and garlic to the same pot. Stir and cook until the onions are tender. Now, you are going to sprinkle a nice amount of curry powder over the onions and garlic. Stir to allow that curry to release all it’s goodness and flavor. I would say about 1 tablespoon at this point. Ok now, open that can of coconut milk and pour it over the onions. Yes it smells like heaven. Curry Thai heaven. Yum!!! Stir in a little more curry powder so that the coconut milk takes on a nice light brown color. Like this…

Now, stir in some honey (about 2 tablespoons) for some sweetness. Squeeze in the lime juice. See where we are going here? Oh yes somewhere lovely. Thai town, curry ville, my happy place. Ok, now at this point I added a few squirts of Sriracha sauce. If you have never used this stuff before, use sparingly at first. It is some good stuff though y’all. Used to it could only be found in certain stores, but now it is pretty much in every store on the ethnic foods aisle. Buy some. It’s awesome sauce.
Now, stir in a little kosher salt. And let all this loveliness simmer for a few minutes. Feel free to add more honey, lime juice, Sriracha sauce, and salt to get it to taste just right. Sprinkle in more curry powder if necessary. Clip some of those fresh, fragrant basil leaves and kind of give them a little chop and stir them into that lovely curry sauce. It will taste sweet and savory at the same time, which in my humble opinion, is the beauty of Thai food. Now, stir your shrimp into this luscious concoction. Serve over cooked rice. Garnish with a little extra basil. Just beautiful, ya’ll. Heaven in a bowl my friends. Heaven in a bowl. Thank you PW for your guidance in my first attempt at curry cooking. Y’all can check out her post with the most here–http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2014/07/coconut-curry-shrimp/.
Hope y’all enjoyed our little foray into curry cooking. Next up…Momou’s chicken fricassee and sweet tomato gravy (exotic in it’s own right) , coconut curry soup and also…paella. Stay tuned. Every day is an adventure and I am so glad you are on this journey with me! ~AMB

that’s the stuff (as my friend Lisa loves to say)