If I had made it to the beach this August, this is what I would have made. Its fresh, full of flavor and easy to make; the perfect dish for a late summer evening.
This recipe calls for shrimp and clams but the coconut broth, made with mustard seeds, ginger, tamarind paste and green chillis, is delicious with any seafood. I like to serve it spooned over thin vermicelli rice noodles but it is equally good with steamed white rice or simply mopped up with crusty sourdough bread.
There is nothing complicated to making it and most of the ingredients are grocery store staples aside from the curry leaves. Curry leaves, added to dishes to give them a citrusy flavor, come from a plant and are not related to curry powder, a blend of spices. If you can’t get your hands on fresh leaves, lime zest combined with a few basil leaves are a good substitute.
Ingredients
- Serves 6
- 24 large shrimp (prawns)
- 2 lbs (1 kilo) palourdes clams
- For the broth:
- ¼ cup (about 55 mls) vegetable oil such as canola
- 2 teaspoons brown mustard seeds
- 15 – 20 fresh curry leaves
- 2 cups (300g) red onions, finely sliced
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- 8 cloves, ground to a fine powder (about ½ tsp pre-ground)
- Pinch of sea salt
- 1 tablespoon garlic, finely chopped (or 1 tsp garlic paste)
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger root (or 1 tsp ginger paste)
- ¼ cup (25 g) fresh ginger root, cut into thin matchsticks
- 4 green chillis, deseeded and sliced lengthwise into strips
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar
- 3 tbsp tamarind concentrate
- 1 x 14 ounce (400 ml) can, full-fat unsweetened coconut milk, shaken thoroughly before opening
- 1 ½ cups (300g) cherry tomatoes, halved
- Juice of 1 large lime
- Handful of roughly chopped coriander
- Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Instructions
- Place the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and warm for a few seconds. Add the mustard seeds. As soon as the seeds begin to pop, add the curry leaves. Stir briefly, then turn down the heat to low and add the cumin seeds, ground cloves and onions, along with a large pinch of salt. Cook gently until the onions have softened and gone from purple to soft pink. Add the grated ginger and garlic and cook for a few minutes more, then sprinkle in the turmeric and sugar and continue cooking 1 minute more. Add the sliced chillies and ginger matchsticks and cook for 3 minutes.
- Whisk the tamarind concentrate and coconut milk together and pour into the pan then use the empty can to add 14 ounces (400 mls) of water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and leave to simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the tomatoes to the broth and simmer another 3 to 5 minutes.
- (If you’d like to prepare the dish in advance, stop here, chill and refrigerate the broth, then reheat before adding the seafood.)
- Add the shrimp to the broth and simmer for 3 minutes, then add the clams, cover and steam for around 3 to 4 minutes or until the shrimp are cooked and the clams have opened, giving the pan a gentle shake a couple of times. Discard any clams that fail to open. Squeeze over the lime juice and sprinkle in the coriander. Serve over rice, noodles or bread.
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https://www.charlottepuckette.com/recipes/main-dish-seafoodfish/coconut-broth-with-clams-and-shrimp/
