Red Thai Curry Shrimp

I originally saw this recipe on Gina's Skinny Taste, a blog that I have really enjoyed eating from. I have always loved spicy food, but thought curry was not for me. This wasn't really an educated decision, as I had never really had curry, but more of an observation-like decision. Every Wednesday, in the hospital cafeteria, a visiting restaurant comes bearing Indian food. The people all around me look delighted with their curry,(basically two blobs of rice, with goo over it.) but I can't help but likening the plates, to a set of B-cups with baby vomit drowning them. That's what it looks like anyway, so I can't say initially I was like, "Mmmmmm."

I was enticed by the ingredient list being relatively small, and knowing that I had frozen, peeled/deveined shrimp on hand helped  a great deal. I also had a can of light coconut milk in my pantry from who knows what whim, and a good stock of fish sauce. We really like Vietnamese food at our house and fish sauce is a staple. The only ingredient I thought might give me some trouble in this rural town, was the Thai Red Curry Paste. To my surprise, Food Town, our local grocer carried it.

(They also have fish sauce which is vital to this dish. It is cheap, keeps really well, is super stinky plain, and changes Woo dishes to Woo! Hoo! dishes. Pick some up.)

As I was making this the Boyz kept coming into the kitchen to sneak shrimp. By the time dinner was ready, we were mostly full, but sucked the rest down anyway. We will definitely keep this one in our quick weeknight dishes line-up.

Being the sauce girl that I am, the first time I made it, I didn't think there was enough sauce. The second time I made it, I doubled the sauce and it was perfect. The recipe shows the sauce doubled. We also served it over coconut quinoa with cilantro, instead of Jasmine rice. Just adapt to your own taste.

       Red Thai Curry Shrimp (adapted from Gina's Skinny Taste)

• 1 tsp oil
• 4 scallions,(green onions), chopped
• 2 Tbsp Thai Red Curry Paste 
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 2 cans light coconut milk
• 1 1/2 Tbsp fish sauce
• 1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped  

In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil on medium-high. Add onions and red curry and saute one minute. Add shrimp and garlic, salt and pepper to taste,  and cook about 2-3 minutes. Add coconut milk, fish sauce and mix well. Simmer about 2-3 minutes, until shrimp is cooked through. Remove from heat, mix in cilantro.

You can serve this over Jasmine rice, but we made some Coconut Quinoa to bed this plate, and it was delicious, and had the added benefits of Quinoa. I bought my Quinoa at Costco and it came prewashed and ready to cook. Instructions on cooking the Quinoa are right on the bag, but I use my rice cooker and it works out just fine. For the recipe, I added 2 cups Quinoa, and 1 cup each of Chicken Broth and Light Coconut Milk, and a Tbsp of Minced Garlic to my rice cooker. I added the other half a bunch of cilantro to the Quinoa when it was done. Viola.