Shrimp Curry

Last time, we had the shrimp and crab in coconut milk. I hope you liked the recipe that I have posted. I’m into the spicy and curry dishes these past few days so I thought of having shrimp curry this time. As always, I woke up early to go to the wet market, bought about kilo/2 pounds of prawns and 1 cup of coconut milk. The other ingredients are already available at home. It’s best to buy fresh shrimps because it taste better and sweeter. You can buy coconut milk in cans but freshly pressed coconut milk gives a full flavor, plus there are no preservatives added to it so it’s much healthier.

Some of the greatest seafood curries originated along the south coast of India where shrimp, fish and other seafood are plentiful. I have my own version of shrimp curry but I like to try a different approach in cooking the dish. I found this recipe in the Internet, I tried this before and it was delicious. This is the south Indian style shrimp curry.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 10 fresh curry leaves (optional)
• 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 2/3 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 tomato, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground red chili pepper
• 2 pounds large prawns - peeled and deveined
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• Chopped fresh cilantro to taste

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a wok or large saucepan over nearly high heat. Add the onions; cook and stir until browned. Mix in the curry leaves, then season with the ginger garlic paste, coriander and salt. Cook and stir for 1 minute.

2. Season with salt and turmeric, then mix in the tomato, chili powder, shrimp and water. Reduce the heat to medium-high and cook for 7 to 8 minutes, until shrimp are opaque. Taste and adjust salt and chili powder if necessary. Season with garam masala, stir and remove from the heat. Garnish with fresh cilantro and serve with flat bread or rice.

I like my shrimp curry with rice. It balances the spiciness of the dish and ice cold fresh lemonade. Enjoy.

Crab and Prawns

I woke up really early today, 5am to be exact. I’ve been thinking of cooking something spicy since yesterday. I thought of cooking mussels and prawns in coconut milk. I set my alarm and set off to Little India by 530am and went directly to the Tekka wet market. Most Singaporeans prefer to do their shopping in wet/dry markets because they will get the freshest and the cheapest buy compared to a supermarket. Almost everything you need for food is there. Most wet/dry markets close at noon but the Tekka market closes late in the afternoon so that’s a plus. Well the downside of going late in the afternoon is that you may not get the best pieces since most of them were already sold in the morning.

People are already doing their thing as soon as I arrived and its getting busier every minute. I went directly where the shellfish are sold. I bought a kilo of mussels and a ½ kilo of medium sized prawns. I was tempted to add a crab or 2 but I hesitated because I thought that there will be too much going on in the dish if I added crabs. I went to the dry section where vegetables are sold, I purchased a few batches (?) or heads (?) of bokchoi or pechay as we call it, 3 green chilis, 4 pieces of red chili, a head of garlic, 1 large white onion and about 4 cups of coconut milk. I spent a few more minutes in the market to browse and check if I needed to buy anything.  I bought 500 grams of pepper corns to replenish my stock and then went home after. 

I thoroughly cleaned the mussels removing some of the small barnacles remaining in the outer shell and rinsed it with old water and salt.

Procedure:

1.       Mince the garlic, chop the white onion, cut 3 green chilies and 4 red chilies into small pieces

2.       On a hot wok, put about 2-3 tbs of extra virgin olive oil

3.       Put the onions first until cooked and then followed by the garlic. I like lots of garlic so I minced the whole head of garlic. I want to have the sweet taste of garlic so I just rolled in it for about 40 seconds in the pan

4.       Put in the coconut milk (in my case, 4 cups) let boil for about 10-15 minutes in high fire while stirring and then put it on low to let it simmer until it has that thick oily consistency. You can put a little bit of sugar if you want to have that sweet and spicy taste to it.

5.       Put in the mussels and prawns and let it simmer for about 10 minutes to let juices infuse with the coconut milk. Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste followed the chopped chilies.  Give it a few stirs to prevent the coconut milk from burning and sticking.

6.       Lastly put the bokchoi and then cover the wok. Turn the fire off. The remaining heat will cook the mussels, prawns and bokchoi. This dish goes well with rice.

Seafood in Singapore

Asians are known to be seafood lovers and why we wouldn’t. Most Asian countries are surrounded by water or sea; we have hundreds of rivers and lakes where we can get our fresh marine produce. Singapore is no exception; the country offers one of the best seafood markets in South East Asia.  You can purchase them live and have it cooked straight away in any seafood restaurants though it may be a little pricey in such establishments. You can also try some hawker centers and choose any seafood you prefer at a cheaper price. 

Supermarkets are also good choice but for the best place to buy seafood are in wet markets.  Wet/Dry markets are an Asian thing and are the one place where most Singaporeans do their shopping.  Busiest time will be early morning till mid noon. Wet portion sells meat and seafood while the dry section is mostly for spices, herbs and vegetables. Local s doesn’t, mind the wet floor or the pungent smell because it where they can buy the freshest catch at a cheaper price. Different fishes in tanks – snakeheads, grouper, catfish, eels, rays, prawns, squids and frogs are abundant. Live mud crabs in cages, the choices are plenty and staggering food items sold in one place. 

If you want to go to typical wet market for fresh seafood, you can try Chinatown or the Tekka Market in Little India. These types of market are better compared to supermarkets because you will know that produce is fresh because it came directly from the ports, farm and butcher houses. You can bargain for prices and build good relations with stall owners that may give you better prices and better choices. 

There are also numerous restaurants that specialize in seafood all over the country. Few examples are Jumbo Seafood Restaurant, No Signboard Seafood Restaurant, Long Beach Sea food restaurant and the list goes on.

I like seafood and a meal will never be complete without it. Share my adventures as we go on our seafood adventure