This post was originally written before the pandemic started, but here’s a quick pandemic-related note: STAY AT HOME IF YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO! IF YOU’RE TOO STUPID TO UNDERSTAND THAT SPREADING COVID-19 IS COSTING PEOPLE’S LIVES, YOU’RE PROBABLY TOO STUPID TO COOK!
For the rest of you smart folks, thanks for doing the right thing. Hang in there.
Here’s a Bon Appetit recipe that I’m a little on the fence as to whether it’s flavorful enough to justify the expense and time to make it. From what I gather, it’s from a restaurant in New Orleans, which isn’t surprising, given the shrimp. This is yet another recipe that I’ve had for about five years before getting around to making it.
This makes for a good enough meal, but I can’t help but think it would be better with ground pork. Shrimp, of course, is really good, but used in ground form in this recipe, it doesn’t have enough flavor heft to compete with the ginger, gochugaru, garlic, jalapeño and curry powder. Granted, if you used pork, it would drastically alter the dish’s overall flavor. Maybe using small, whole shrimp would be better than ground shrimp. I’ll probably try it that way sometime.
What you’ll need:
- 1 large onion, cut into large pieces
- 2T vegetable oil
- 1 small jalapeño, seeds removed, if desired, coarsely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1.5 pounds small shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1T curry powder
- 1T gochugaru (Korean red pepper powder)
- 2t finely-grated peeled ginger
- 1T tomato paste
- 1T all-purpose flour
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth (I had a self-made shrimp stock on hand, instead)
- 12 ounces wide rice-noodles
- 1t finely-grated lemon zest
- 2T lemon juice, fresh, if possible
- 1t finely-grated lime zest
- 2t fresh lime juice
- Chili oil, fresh basil leaves, and sliced scallions (for serving)
What to do:
Finely chop the onion with a food processor. Heat the oil in a large frypan over medium heat and cook the onion, stirring often, until it is soft and starting to brown a bit (6–8 minutes).
In the same food processor, finely chop the jalapeño and garlic, then reserve in a small bowl. Now pulse shrimp in the processor until coarsely ground, refrigerate in the container until ready to cook.
Add the jalapeño, garlic, curry powder, gochugaru and ginger to the pan with the onions. Mix well and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Now add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, until the paste is slightly darkened (about 3 minutes). Add the reserved shrimp and cook, stirring often, until cooked through (about 5 minutes).
Sprinkle the flour over the cooking ingredients and cook, stirring, until flour is no longer visible. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and briskly simmer, stirring occasionally, until reduced by half, 25–30 minutes.
While the shrimp is finishing, cook the noodles according to package directions, then drain. Add them to the sauce when it’s finished, tossing to coat.
Remove from heat and stir in the citrus zest and juice. Drizzle with chili oil (I forgot) and top with basil and scallions (I didn’t have any).
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