An Invitation to Indian Cooking - Madhur Jaffrey [49]
How to peel and devein shrimp
This is really not as tiresome as it sounds. The secret is to make yourself entirely comfortable as you go about the task. Spread a double layer of newspaper at a table. Bring a clean plate, a sharp pointed knife, and a bag of shrimp to the table. Now pull up a chair and sit down. Shrimp, in American stores, nearly always have their heads removed before they are displayed, so what you are left with is the body, tail, and legs.
First of all, pull off the legs that dangle on the belly side. Next, peel the shell from the body. It will come off in wide rings. Pull off the tail separately. To devein, make a shallow incision along the length of the shrimp, right where the backbone would be if the shrimp had one—all the way from head to tail. Here you will see a threadlike tube, often filled with black or green or yellow substance. Pull this out. If you don’t find it, do not discard the shrimp. It is still quite edible. Place all peeled and deveined shrimp on a clean plate. Next, wash shrimp thoroughly in cold running water and pat dry.
Marinated shrimp with whole spices
SERVES 6
Shrimp are marinated in a paste of garlic, ginger, hot green chilies (or use cayenne pepper as a substitute), lemon juice, salt, and pepper. They are then fried with a bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and peppercorns. The actual cooking time is less than 10 minutes. The shrimp should be fried just before serving.
3 pounds shrimp (jumbo shrimp are particularly good for this recipe)
10 cloves of garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
A piece of fresh ginger, 2 inches long and 1½ inches wide, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 fresh hot green chilies, sliced (or use ¼–½ teaspoon cayenne pepper as substitute)
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt (more for sprinkling later if necessary)
⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 tablespoons olive oil (or vegetable oil)
1 cinnamon stick, 2½–3 inches long
5 cardamom pods
6 whole cloves
10 whole peppercorns
1 bay leaf
¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
GARNISH
2 scallions
Peel and devein shrimp. Wash under cold running water. Drain and pat dry as thoroughly as you can.
In the container of an electric blender, combine the garlic, ginger, green chilies, lemon juice, salt, and freshly ground pepper. Blend at high speed until you have a smooth paste.
In a bowl, combine the shrimp and the paste from the blender. Mix well. Cover. Leave, unrefrigerated, for an hour. If you wish to leave it longer (2 to 4 hours is fine), put bowl in the refrigerator.
Ten minutes before serving, heat the oil in a 10–12-inch skillet over a high flame. Add the cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, peppercorns, and bay leaf. Stir for 10 seconds or until bay leaf darkens. Then put in the shrimp and marinade and let this mixture bubble and cook, stirring constantly, only until the shrimp turn pink and opaque all over. Remove them (and any whole spices that cling to them) with a slotted spoon and place them in a bowl. Add turmeric to contents of skillet. Keep cooking the marinade mixture over high flame, stirring all the time, until it becomes thick and pastelike. This will take just a few minutes. Now put the shrimp back into the skillet. Stir around until the shrimp are well coated; there should be no sauce left in the skillet. Check the salt. You may need to sprinkle on a bit more. Turn off heat.
To serve: Place the shrimp on a warm platter. Wash the scallions and slice into fine rounds, including at least an inch of the green part as well, and sprinkle them over the shrimp. Serve with a rice dish, some kind of lentils, a vegetable, and a yogurt dish. Warn people not to bite into the whole spices.
Shrimp with crushed mustard seeds
SERVES 4
1 pound shrimp
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds, crushed (use heavy mortar and
pestle or grinding stone)
⅛ teaspoon ground turmeric
2 tablespoons tomato sauce