Easy Coconut Shrimp Curry

I am a huge fan of both Indian food and curry in general after living in Scotland for a couple of years.  We typically have some sort of curry at least once a week.  What I think is surprising though is that my husband and I both agree that we enjoy our homemade dishes almost more than ordering take out or going out to eat.  This dish is definitely feels more Thai than Indian, but if you enjoy curry and coconut, it is super easy to make and delish.  If you aren't a big shrimp fan, you can easily substitute chicken (which we have done many times). Another plus, this is a one pan dish (with the exception of the rice) so clean up is a cinch.  This was another one of our favorite dishes from the dearly departed Scratch DC meals we loved so much.  

What You'll Need:

Salt and Pepper 

pinch of Cayenne

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 cup Basmati rice

1 tbsp butter

Canola oil

1 cup of canned, diced tomatoes

1 cup coconut milk (canned - found in International aisle)

1 cup frozen peas (you can cook from frozen)

1 cup onion, diced

1 tbsp garlic, minced

2 tsp fresh grated ginger

1 tsp coriander

1/4 tsp tumeric

1 tsp curry powder

What You'll Do:

First you need to marinade your protein for about 20 minutes prior to cooking.  Put your shrimp or chicken in a ziplock bag, season with salt and pepper and pinch of cayenne, and lemon juice.  Set aside.

Cook the rice in a medium pot according to package directions.

In a large pan, add canola oil.  Add onion and cook for 3-5 minutes.  Add ginger, garlic, coriander, tumeric, and curry powder to onion mix and season with salt and pepper.  Add more canola oil if needed to avoid spices sticking to the pan.  Add tomatoes and coconut milk and bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer.  Add shrimp or chicken and heat until cooked through (this will obviously be a much shorter cooking period for the shrimp and I strongly encourage you NOT to overcook the shrimp).  Serve over Basmati rice.

Note: if I were making this, I'd have added chopped fresh cilantro at the end as the recipe originally called for but my husband hates cilantro so I didn't buy a whole bunch of it just for me to put on my plate.  But, garnishing with some chopped fresh cilantro would be delish if you are so inclined!