Forget the takeout, you’ll love this coconut shrimp curry made from scratch. It features a delicious spicy soup with a coconut note, lovely shrimps, enoki mushrooms and some fresh cilantro-ginger sauce. It’s quick, easy and incredibly satisfying.
This dish has all the right or better said all the best ingredients. Wink. For instance, creamy coconut milk (I always buy canned ones), lovely firm shrimps, chili, a bunch of delicious spices, fresh ginger and coriander sauce and some cute Asian mushrooms called Enokitake.
Enokitake mushrooms
Aren’t these mushrooms cute? Enokitake mushrooms (a.k.a. Enoki) are well known for their role in Asia, but mostly in Japanese cuisine. They come in clusters of long thin white stalks topped with little white buttons at the end. So cute! Totally different from penny buns (which I used in this penny bun barley) or portobello mushrooms (check out this egg stuffed mushroom recipe).
More, Enoki mushrooms have a mild, delicate flavour with a light crunch. As for the flavour and texture, I can say they remind me of bean sprouts or mung bean sprouts. However, they can be eaten either raw or cooked. For example, they pair great with soups, salads, pasta sauces, hot pots and Asian dishes.
A little crunch is a lovely contrast to the creamy and spicy curry soup. And the shrimps pair wonderfully with coconut, spices and fresh coriander. I love them. Here you can find three different shrimp recipes: Beluga lentil-shrimp soup, as an appetizer, spicy garlic-coconut shrimps and in a salad, bacon-wrapped shrimp salad. Shrimps are very versatile and great to add to your diet. In fact, they are rich in several vitamins and minerals and they are a great source of protein, too.
In addition, I put together a wonderful sauce in order to add a bit of freshness to the dish. It tastes amazing and you can use it also with chicken, potatoes, fish or steak. The combination of cilantro, garlic and ginger is simply great. It’s fresh, citrusy and a bit spicy. Honey adds a bit of sweetness and soy sauce some saltiness. It is almost an umami flavour. Wink.
Ingredient for two portions of coconut shrimp curry:
- around 20 shrimps
- chili oil
- 1 Tbsp of coriander seeds (slightly ground)
- a piece of ginger (1 cm, diced)
- 2 small potatoes (peeled and cut into sticks or small cubes)
- 1 tsp of turmeric powder
- 1/2 – 1 tsp of chili flakes
- 2 tsp of curry powder (you can use curry paste as well)
- 1 Tbsp of tomato paste
- 400 ml of chicken stock
- 100 ml of coconut milk (canned)
- 1 button mushroom
- a small bundle of Enokitake mushrooms
- fresh coriander for garnish
Ingredients for the coriander-ginger sauce:
- half a bund of fresh coriander
- 2 garlic cloves
- a splash of soy sauce
- 1 tsp of honey
- 2 Tbsp of olive oil
- 2 cm of ginger
- salt
To begin, clean the shrimps. Remove the shell, leaving the tail intact (you can either keep or remove the heads). With a small sharp knife, cut along the dark vein on the back of each shrimp and carefully remove it. Place the shrimps onto a plate, cover with foil and put in the fridge.
Then, peel the potatoes and cut them into thin sticks or small cubes. Peel the ginger, using a spoon (it’s the best way to do it) and dice it. Rinse the coriander and keep it in a bowl with cold water until ready to use.
In a medium pot, drizzle some chili oil and heat it up on medium-high. Then stir in the slightly crushed coriander seeds, diced ginger and potatoes and cook for a couple of minutes with continuous stirring.
More, add the turmeric, chili flakes and curry powder to the pot. Stir until they release the aromas. Next, add the tomato paste, pour in the chicken stock, season with salt, cover and let it simmer for 15 minutes.
Coriander-ginger sauce
Meanwhile, prepare the coriander-ginger sauce. In a food processor or blender, combine fresh ginger, garlic, a pinch of salt, soy sauce, honey, fresh coriander and olive oil and pulse until smooth. Cover and put aside while preparing the shrimps and finishing the curry soup.
Stir the coconut milk into the pot with curry, cover and let it simmer until the shrimps are ready. Now, in a frying pan, drizzle some chili oil or olive oil and add a teaspoon of the coriander-ginger sauce. Once it’s hot, add the shrimps and cook them for 3-4 minutes on each side until pink and cooked through.
Last but not least, slice the button mushroom, trim off the roots of the Enoki mushrooms and give the mushrooms a quick rinse. Using your fingers, gently tear them apart into small bite-size bundles.
In conclusion, fill two bowls up to two thirds or half with the coconut curry soup, top with button mushrooms, shrimps, fresh coriander and Enoki mushrooms. As of last, add a spoon of coriander-ginger sauce. This coconut shrimp curry is an explosion of flavours.
Enjoy!
