Cochin Jhinga (Kerala Shrimp Curry)

I made this tasty shrimp curry on Easter to go with the fish and dal when we had Reiver's parents over for dinner. The kahawai was definitely the standout of the night, but the shrimp seemed to be thoroughly enjoyed as well.

Photo goes here.

Cochin Jhinga

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. coconut oil
• 1/2 c. chopped shallots
• 10 fresh or frozen curry leaves
• 1-2 fresh green Thai, jalapeño, or serrano chiles, halved lengthwise
• 200mL diced tomatoes
• 2 Tbsp. vinegar
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. ground Kashmiri chilies¹
• 500g peeled and deveined shrimp
• 3 slices of fresh ginger² (each 6x2.5x0.3cm), julienned

Directions

1. Heat oil over medium-high heat.
2. Add the shallots, curry leaves, and chilies and sauté for 2 minutes.
3. Add the tomatoes, vinegar, salt, and ground chilies and bring to a boil.
4. Add the shrimp and stir to coat.
5. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and poach, stirring occasionally, until shrimp are cooked through (~5 minutes).
6. Sprinkle with the ginger and serve.

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¹ As I was trying to make this curry extra mild, I used only half of a fresh jalape&ntile;o with its seeds removed and 1/2 tsp. of Kashmiri chiles. This produced a flavourful curry and, more importantly, everyone was happy with the spice level. That said, if I were making it again, in a situation where the spice level didn't matter, I would probably put 1 fresh chile and a whole teaspoon of ground chiles in. ^Back
2 I didn't have any fresh ginger on hand when making this, so I ended up just tossing a few Tbsp. of ginger paste into the sauce. Obviously, that is not ideal and produces a different effect, but the overall result was still quite tasty so I'm not upset about that! ^Back