Feral Cooks

Good food shouldn't be tame

You are here: Home / Gluten Free / Shrimp Balchao

Shrimp Balchao

March 16, 2018 By Karl Leave a Comment

This is a very fiery Goan dish from western India. Goan cuisine is influenced, of course, by traditional Hindu foods, as well as by the Portuguese when they colonized the area for about 200 years beginning in the early 1500s. Balchaos are typically made with seafood, have lots of peppers, and are known for their intense flavor.

Keep in mind with this recipe that dried chilies are very hot, and using too many may render the dish virtually impossible to eat, unless you’ve already generated a tolerance for VERY spicy food. At the time of making and eating this dish, my wife and I had comparatively low tolerance, which led to drinking lots of water and eating lots of rice with the shrimp. That said, the leftovers did lose some of their heat after sitting in the fridge overnight.

This recipe easy to make, and it is perfect for a weekday dinner. There are many recipes of this type in Indian cookbooks and on the web, and this is an amalgamation of some of them. If you use more tomatoes and vinegar, you’ll get a dish with a more curry-like look to it.

 

What you’ll need:

  • About 1 lb of large, peeled and deveined shrimp (tails on, if possible)
  • 3t vegetable oil
  • 2 large onions or shallots, finely chopped
  • 2 large tomatoes, finely chopped
  • salt

     For the flavor paste

  • 2-6 dried chilies, depending on how hot you want it
  • 2t mustard seeds
  • 1T cumin seeds
  • 8 cloves
  • 1-inch piece cinnamon stick
  • 2t ginger paste
  • 2t garlic paste (minced garlic works, too)
  • 3T vinegar
  • 2t sugar

What to do:

Dry-fry the dried chilies, mustard seed, cumin seed, cloves and cinnamon at medium heat until fragrant and the seeds start to pop.

Remove from heat so they don’t burn, letting them cool a bit before adding them to a grinder. Also add to the grinder the ginger and garlic pastes and vinegar before grinding into a thick paste. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a fry pan and fry the shrimp until opaque, after which, remove the shrimp with tongs, leaving the oil in the pan.

Add the onion to the pan and cook till softened, then add the tomatoes and cook till softened.

Add the flavor paste and cook until the oil is released from the paste (it will get shiny).

Reintroduce the shrimp and heat up to serving temperature.

Serve immediately with hot basmati rice, or refrigerate for a day and let the flavors further develop.

 

 

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

Related

Filed Under: Gluten Free, Indian, Low carb/Low GI/Low GL

« Easy Gourmet – Shrimp in Garlic Olive Oil
Spring Lemon Ricotta Frittas »

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Feral Cooks was developed by Karl and Philip, two expats who were introduced to each other by their wives while living in Japan.  Learn more →

Recent Posts

  • Thenga Konju Curry (Coconut Prawn Curry)
  • Fried Bacon-wrapped Avocado
  • Tandoori Murgh (grilled chicken skewers)
  • Egg Salad and Bacon Wrap
  • Shrimp and Tomato Curry

Categories

  • Appetizers & cheese (188)
  • Baked goods (87)
  • Beef (51)
  • Beverages (10)
  • Chicken (86)
  • Cooking tools (14)
  • Dessert (83)
  • Eggs (31)
  • Gluten Free (271)
  • Indian (34)
  • Indonesian (27)
  • Ingredients (24)
  • Italian (41)
  • Japanese (53)
  • Lamb (6)
  • Low carb/Low GI/Low GL (239)
  • Mexican (7)
  • Misc. (31)
  • Pasta (34)
  • Pizza (19)
  • Pork (128)
  • Pressure cooker (6)
  • Restaurants & Delis (3)
  • Seafood (30)
  • Soup (16)
  • Thai (57)
  • Tofu (13)
  • Uncategorized (11)
  • Vegan (103)
  • Vegetarian (250)
  • Vietnamese (20)

Archives

  • June 2025
  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016

© 2025 - Feral Cooks - All Rights Reserved