JP and I love spicy food– the more heat, the better.  You’ll often find us chowing down on 3-alarm dishes as we alternate between the slurp and the wipe….slurping down the goodness, wiping down the forehead!  Make me sweat, baby, it’s goodferya!!  Thai food is one of my favorites, and since there are no good delivery joints in our neck of the woods, I had to improvise at home when a Thai craving hit.

In this dish, I love the creamy smoothness of the coconut milk with the layers of flavor created with the ginger, garlic and lemon grass.  I’m also including the recipes for coconut lime zested rice and sesame asparagus.  It’s a great dinner that packs heart healthy flavor with all the heat!  If you’re not into spice, omit the jalapeños.

Ingredients

Green Curry Sauce:

1 Tb olive oil

2 shallots chopped

3 garlic cloves chopped

2 Tb Green Curry Paste

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp coriander

1 Tb fresh ginger

1 Tb fresh lemongrass (I use Gourmet Garden’s Lemongrass and Ginger Paste)

2 Tb soy sauce or Tamari

2 Tb brown sugar

1 Tb fish sauce

Juice of one lime

2 jalapeños chopped or Thai Chilis

2 cans of full fat Coconut Milk

Chopped fresh basil (about a large palmful)

Shrimp Seasoning

1 pound of medium sized shrimp

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp curry powder

1 Tb butter and 1 Tb olive oil for sauteeing.

Coconut Lime Zested Rice

1 can full fat coconut milk

1 cup jasmine rice

1 Tb butter

Juice and zest from one lime

Sesame Asparagus

2-3 cups chopped asparagus

2 garlic cloves chopped

1 Tb sesame oil

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp toasted sesame seeds (optional)

Directions:

Green Curry Sauce: Saute the chopped shallot and garlic in olive oil on medium heat in a wide rimmed frying pan or large sauce pan for one minute.  Add in the curry paste and stir around to mix in with the shallots and garlic until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add in the coconut milk and all of the other ingredients.  Stir to combine and simmer on low/medium heat until ready to serve.

Rice: While sauce is simmering, make your rice.  Bring the can of coconut milk to a boil and add in the 1 cup of jasmine rice with 1 Tb butter.  Squeeze the lime in and bring back to a boil.  Cover and turn down heat to low and cook for 20 minutes.  After 20 minutes, zest the lime and stir the zest in to the cooked rice.

Asparagus: Chop off the woody ends of the asparagus (about 2 inches) and chop the rest of the stalks into bite size 1 inch pieces.  Add sesame oil to a frying pan and heat up on med/high heat.  Toss in the garlic and stir for a minute, then add in the asparagus and saute for 7 minutes stirring occasionally.  Feel free to sprinkle some toasted sesame seeds on top– just stir them around in a dry pan for a couple minutes on medium heat to toast them up.  Don’t ya hate soggy asparagus?  Problem solved.  Cutting it up into bite size pieces seals in the flavor and still keeps the crunch.

Shrimp: This should be your final step so the shrimp don’t sit out and get tough.  Peel and clean your shrimp, dry them off with a paper towel and toss with the curry powder and ginger.  Heat up 1 Tb butter and 1 Tb olive oil in a frying pan on medium/high heat and wait till butter is bubbling.  Test out the temperature by putting one shrimp in the pan.  If you don’t hear a *sizzle*, wait a bit longer.    Don’t crowd the shrimp in the pan– cook in several batches.  (You will need to add more butter and olive oil between batches).

Cook shrimp on 3 minutes on one side– DO NOT MOVE THE SHRIMP AROUND IN THE PAN!  (YES, I’M YELLING!!) Just let them sit there in that buttery goodness and get seared.  I always use my timer for this because it’s so easy to overcook them.  Flip after 3 minutes and cook for 2 minutes on the other side.  Why less time on the other side?  Cuz they’ll be done by then.  Trust me!  Remove shrimp from the hot pan and put on a plate so the shrimp don’t continue cooking.  I always toss on a small pinch of kosher salt to the shrimp when they’re done.

To serve, top coconut rice with green curry sauce and shrimp.  Serve with asparagus.  Then sprinkle some fresh basil on top and get ready for scrumptious…