DRIED SHRIMP CURRY

A different curry for today. Dried Shrimp Curry. Made with my own green curry paste. Rewarding. Delicious. Let’s make this curry.

Ingredients:

1 potato
5 mushrooms
½ squash
½ onion
½ green pepper
½ red pepper
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
¼ pound dried shrimp
Some vegetable oil
1 teaspoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon lemon grass
1 can coconut milk

Thai Green Paste:

1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
12 black peppercorns
12 small dried shrimp or 1 teaspoon shrimp paste
20 Thai green chillies
2 shallots
1 lemon grass stalk
3 kaffir lime leaves
Some grated kaffir rind
2 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh galangal (or ginger, if you cannot get galangal)
½ teaspoon salt
½ tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

First we will make our green paste. We will take the cumin and the coriander seeds and we will dry-roast them in a pan. Be careful, do not burn the seeds. Once this is done, put them in a mortar and grind them along with the peppercorns and the dried shrimp.
Prepare the green chillies. You will have to remove the seeds and chop them a bit. Now we will start mixing all the green paste ingredients in a blender. We will chop the shallots and lemon grass and then we will put them in the blender. We will do the same with the kaffir lime leaves, the galangal and the garlic. We will add the grated kaffir rind. Now we can blend a little. After this, we will add the rest of the ingredients for our paste: the green chillies, the mix with cumin, coriander, dried shrimp and peppercorns. We will blend again and then we will add some sugar, some salt to taste and some vegetable oil. We have to use the oil to get a delicious green paste, so use it to get the paste to your taste. And with this we will have our green paste.
Then we will prepare the potato. Peel it and cut it in pieces. Boil it and when it is ready, reserve it. Now cut the vegetables. Not in very big pieces. Chop the garlic and the ginger.
Once the vegetables are ready, we will start by heating two tablespoons of vegetable oil in a wok. Then we will sauté the onion and the green pepper. Two minutes later, add the squash, the mushrooms, the red pepper, the garlic and the ginger. Then we will add the shrimp and two or three tablespoons of the curry paste. The rest of the paste you can freeze for the future. Add the fish sauce and the lemon grass, fresh or packaged, as it is more conveniente for you. Cook for a couple of minutes. Then add the coconut milk and keep on cooking for two more minutes. Add the boiled potatoes now. Cook for five more minutes. You can add some fresh cilantro if you want.
Serve hot with rice. Enjoy!

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GOAN CROQUETTES

Let’s go back to Goa today. Goan Croquettes. So delicious. Let’s cook them.

Ingredients:

2 eggs
½ onion
1 clove of garlic
1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
1 dried red chili
1 jalapeno
7 cloves
Some vegetable oil for sautéing
½ pound ground beef
1 slice of bread
Some breadcrumbs
Some vegetable oil for frying the croquettes

First we will prepare the vegetables. Peel the onion, the garlic and the ginger. Remove the seeds of the chili. Cut the jalapeno, the garlic, the ginger and the chili.
The next step will be to sauté the onion, the jalapeno, the garlic, the ginger and the chili. After a couple of minutes, we will add the meat. Cook for a while so that the meat loses all their liquid.
Blend that preparation but make sure it is not too much.
Soak the slice of bread for ten minutes and after that, try to get rid of all the water from the bread. Beat one egg. Mix the egg with the bread and then with the blended meat and vegetables.
Prepare some breadcrumbs and beat the other egg.
Now we will start frying our croquettes. First heat some oil in a frying pan. Make the croquettes with the blended mixture. Soak them in the egg, then in the breadcrumbs and then put them in the frying pan with the hot oil. Make some at at time but not too many at the same time. Get them brown in both sides and when they are done, let them get rid of some oil on kitchen paper towel. Serve hot.
A perfect appetizer. Enjoy!

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