Massaman Curry Shrimp

This is a flavorful dish from our friends at Serious Eats. It’s a quick and basic curry with a rich, addictive sauce.

There are no secrets to making it, but be careful about the amount of curry paste you use. For reference, I used only 1.5T of the pre-made paste, and it was plenty flavorful, but not too hot.

What you’ll need:

• 14-ounce can of coconut milk, left undisturbed for several hours
• 2T vegetable oil
• *5 to 6T Massaman curry paste
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 pound of shrimp, preferably unshelled (large shrimp are preferable)
• 2T fish sauce
• 1t brown or palm sugar

*This is a lot of curry paste. If you’re using typical pre-made paste (see photo), start with maybe 1.5T of paste and add more, if needed.

What do to:

To make the curry sauce, carefully open the can coconut milk and skim off the top layer of thick cream with a spoon. Spoon off about 4T of it. Stir what remains in the can.

Add the oil into a large, nonstick frypan and set over medium heat. When the oil is hot but not smoking, add the 4T of thick coconut cream and curry paste. Stir the paste until it is lightly browned and the oil has separated from the coconut cream.

Next, add all the rest of the ingredients except the shrimp: the remaining coconut milk, bay leaf, fish sauce and brown sugar. Add a little water if you feel the mixture is too thick. Stir everything and bring it to a simmer.

Add the shrimp and gently simmer for 3 to 5 minutes, until the shrimp is barely cooked through. 

Serve hot over rice or some type of asian noodles.