Shrimp Curry

Shrimp marinated in a tangy and spicy sauce, seasoned with garlic and smothered in pureed tomatoes. The taste is very enriching and is out of the world.
I had this curry sometime back at a relative’s place. I made sure I asked her for the recipe. She roughly gave me the measurements of the ingredients.
She also told me that she had added a few dehydrated red bell peppers just to make the curry more flavorful and vibrant! I don’t have a dehydrator so I decided to use paprika which can enhance the color and equally contribute to the flavor!
When I tried the recipe I just eyeballed everything and tried to suit it to our taste buds. You can adjust the proportions to meet your needs.
What I liked most about this simple curry was there is no coconut unlike any South Kanara seafood recipe. Yet the taste was unbelievable. Its very light and the flavor of all the spices, the tanginess of tamarind and tomatoes makes it so unreal! There is a similar version prepared in South kanara region what we call Shrimp Humman where coconut forms the base for gravy and also we don’t use garlic or tomatoes. But here tomatoes form the base for the gravy and gives a nice “body” and rich texture to the Dish! Hence adding good amount of pureed or very finely chopped tomatoes would be inevitable here. Also cooking /frying the tomatoes till mushy is also a very important step. Believe me this is very important because when I tried it for the first time I didn’t wait till the tomatoes were all pulpy and mushy, so the end result was not so good.
You will require

Large Shrimp peeled, deveined and cleaned about 12

For the marinade:
1.Luke warm water about 1 cups cup to soak the tamarind.
2.Tamarind paste about 1 or 2 tsp, (If using the whole tamarind you will need about golf ball size, soak it in luke warm water for about 10 minutes and extract the pulp)
3.Red chilli powder 1/2 tsp or can add more if you want it hot and adjust the rest of the ingredients accordingly.
4.Turmeric powder ¼ tsp
5.Dhania jeera powder ¼ tsp, this wasn’t there in the recipe, but I like the flavor of dhania jeera especially in sea food preps.
6.Asafoetida ¼ tsp
7.Salt to taste.

For seasoning..

1.Cooking oil 2 to 3 tsp
2.Garlic cloves 2 finely chopped
3.Ripe Tomatoes 4 very finely chopped or best the option would be to just pulse it in the blender for a minute or 2… (If you intend to use canned tomatoes, then that’s fine too)
4.Paprika ½ to 1 tsp

Method:

1. Soak tamarind (if using the whole tamarind) in warm water and squeeze the juice. If using the tamarind concentrate then add about 1 to 2 tsp and make a solution.

2. Take a bowl and add cleaned shrimps, tamarind solution, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, dhania jeera powder, asafoetida, and salt. Mix well and let it marinade for at least 30 minutes.

3. Heat a saucepan and add oil, when heated through add the chopped garlic and fry till slight golden. (Be careful not to burn the garlic)

4. Add the finely crushed tomatoes and fry till it’s soft and mushy like a paste. Add paprika and fry further for a minute.

5. Now add the shrimp and the marinade (along with the water) and cook till the shrimp is cooked through. At this point adjust the spice and salt. Add water if it’s thick and adjust the consistency. The consistency should be like a thin gravy.
Serve with rice and pappads.