Day Two

She Said:

Day Two of our own Julie/Julia Project. We made something completely different for us and we really liked it! The star ingredient was spinach, a spring recipe from Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman.

Curried Spinach and Shrimp

1 1/2-2 pounds spinach, washed and trimmed (we used 22 oz. of baby spinach)
2 tablespoons canola oil
3 onions, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1-2 fresh or canned green chiles, minced (we used 3 tablespoons of canned mild chiles)
1 piece fresh ginger (1 1/2 inches long), peeled and minced
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon fenugreek seeds (I couldn't find whole seeds so we used ground)
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1 1/2 pounds medium shrimp, shelled and deveined (I could only find large shrimp - which was fine!)
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
Salt
Cayenne (optional)
Hot cooked rice

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the spinach and cook about 30 seconds. Drain well and roughly chop. (Since we used baby spinach, we didn't chop it.)

2. Heat the oil over medium-low heat in a large saucepan. Add the onions, garlic, chiles, ginger, curry powder, cumin, fenugreek, and coriander. Sauté until the onions are golden, about 10 minutes. Do not let the mixture burn, or you might as well start over.

3. Stir in the shrimp, increase the heat to medium-high and cook until the shrimp are just white and firm, about 5 minutes.

4. Reduce the heat to low. Stir in the buttermilk and spinach. Season with salt. Add cayenne to taste. Cook over low heat until the spinach is heated through. Serve hot over rice.

We didn't add enough salt at the end, or maybe we should have added some to the rice, I don't know. But either way, it needed salt but it was delicious!! Plus, the house smelled incredible from the curry and cumin and coriander. These are not standard scents we get from our cooking.

Really, really good dinner!

Day 2/365:Recipe 2/175