WATCH: Make a shrimp with cashew-yoghurt sauce
Ingredients
- 16-20 count frozen shrimp, shell-on and deveined
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 medium onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- ½ teaspoon chilli powder, plus more as needed
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt, or more as needed
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup roasted, unsalted cashews
- 2 cups plain Greek yoghurt, preferably full-fat
Method
- Place the shrimp (to taste) in a bowl of tap water and let them defrost a bit while you prep the butter.
- When you can, pull off the tails and reserve.
- Melt the butter in the pot, over medium-low heat. As soon as white milk solids form on the surface, skim off and discard them. The butter should be mostly golden and clear; you have clarified it enough for this dish.
- Add the reserved shrimp tails; cook for about 10 minutes, stirring once or twice. (You are infusing the butter with shrimp flavor!)
- Meanwhile, peel the shrimp; it's okay if they are not fully defrosted. Discard the shells or reserve to make broth (see the NOTE, below). Cut the onion into small dice. Mince the garlic.
- Remove the shrimp tails from the pot and discard, then stir in the onion and garlic. Increase the heat to medium; cook for 3 or 4 minutes until just softened, stirring a few times, then add the chilli powder, cumin, turmeric, salt and pepper, stirring to incorporate. Add half the cashews.
- Add the yoghurt, stirring to form a thick sauce; cook for 2 or 3 minutes, then reduce the heat to low.
- At this point, you can decide: Use an immersion (stick) blender to puree the mixture right in the pot. (For a textured sauce or to make less of a mess, you can skip the blending step; if you don't have an immersion blender, you can transfer the mixture to a food processor.)
- Drain the shrimp and add them to the pot, along with the remaining cashews.
- Increase the heat to medium; cook for about 4 minutes, stirring to make sure all the shrimp is pink and no longer translucent. Taste and add more salt and/or chilli powder, as needed.
- Divide among wide, shallow bowls.
- Sprinkle each portion with a little chilli powder, and serve warm.
Note
- Having a broth made from shrimp shells gives you a flavorful head start on seafood soups, chowders and sauces.
- To make it, combine the reserved shells from this recipe, half an onion or some fennel scraps and a few peppercorns in a medium saucepan.
- Cover with water and bring barely to a boil over medium heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for about 15 minutes.
- Strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a heatproof container; cool and freeze flat in a zip-top bag for up to 6 months. (Be sure to label, including the date.)
The Washington Post/Adapted from Spark.Recipes.com