I have been feeling really stuffed up and gross this week, so I wanted to make something spicy and comforting. I was thinking of just getting take out Indian food, but after trolling Pinterest for a little bit, I realized making my own curry wouldn’t be too tough of a task to tackle. I already had some shrimp in the freezer, so shrimp curry was the move.
For a dish like curry, there are a few ingredients that I never have on hand like coconut milk and the warm spices that go into it. I figured the best place to go for the rest of my ingredients would be good ol’ Trader Joe’s because I know they sell spices on the cheap. Much to my surprise, they didn’t have straight up curry powder, so I decided to try out their premade “Curry Simmer Sauce.”
What you need
Cook time: 30 mins
Servings: 4
For the rice
- 1 cup basmati rice
- 1 tsp tumeric
- ½ packet Ramen seasoning (chicken flavor)
For the shrimp marinade
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp salt & pepper
- ½ tsp smoked paprika
For the curry
- 1 lb shrimp
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp ginger, minced
- 1 T coconut oil
- 1 16 oz can stewed tomatoes
- 13.5 oz coconut milk
- Handful of sugar snap peas
- 2 T scallions for garnish
Spices
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp salt and pepper
- ½ cup Trader Joe’s Curry Simmer sauce
don’t have to hurry for this curry
Let’s kick things off with some rice action. If you’re using the Trader Joe’s brand, bring the rice to a boil in 2 cups of water. Once it comes to a boil, turn down the heat, add the seasonings, cover it, and let it simmer for 10-15 mins. Mine ended up being slightly overcooked after 15 mins, so keep an eye on it.
While the rice is cookin, we are going to start the base of the curry. Start by marinating the shrimp in the lemon juice and spices and throw that in the fridge while you prep the rest of the dish. Next, heat up the coconut oil in a large saute pan. Once the coconut oil is melted, add in your onions and salt and pepper. Let the onions cook until they’re translucent (see through). Once that happens, kick up the flavor with your garlic, ginger, spices, and the Curry Simmer sauce. Let this cook for about 5 minutes.
finishing touches
The only work you have left to do is opening up some cans and throwing them in the mix. Pour in the coconut milk and the stewed tomatoes and let that simmer for 10 minutes. You could use diced tomatoes as well if that’s what you have on hand, but I prefer the flavor of the stewed tomatoes.
After 10 minutes, add in your shrimp. They will only take about 2 minutes to cook and keep an eye on them because nothing’s worse than rubbery shrimp. Once the shrimp are pink and plump, serve up your curry on top of your rice. Garnish it with chopped up scallions and whole sugar snap peas. Both of them bring crunch and color to the table, but one brings spicy and one brings sweet, so it all balances out.
This dish truly represents my style of cooking, which is basically making things up on the fly. I like going to Trader Joe’s when I’m cooking dishes on the fly because they have a wide selection of ingredients as well as short cuts for lazy peeps like me. Hope you enjoy and stay tuned to see what I whip up next!
