Sweet Potato Shrimp Curry

Tonight's dinner turned out exactly like a lot of them do. It started out with a recipe, and then depending on what ingredients I like/don't like or have/don't have, it transformed into something very far from the original.

I started with a recipe for Coconut Curried Crab from The Newlywed Kitchen, a really nice cookbook I got from my friend Sarah. 

Coconut Curried Crab sounded good, but we were in more of a shrimp mood. And I could only justify buying half a pound of shrimp (instead of the recipe's one pound of crab-meat), so I threw in some sweet potato and baby corn. I also didn't have a tablespoon of fresh ginger, so I substituted ginger powder. And, because we don't have any tumeric or garam masala lying around, I used curry powder instead, hoping they might be included. I also omitted the brown sugar because the coconut milk seemed to add enough sweetness already. But, you know, that's all. Just some small changes. :)

We enjoyed this over jasmine rice, which we began cooking before starting on the curry. Here's my altered recipe:


Sweet Potato Shrimp Curry
3-4 servings

Ingredients

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon stone-ground mustard or mustard seeds

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

2-6 small red chiles depending on your heat preferences 

1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced 

1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder

2/3 cup coconut milk 

1/2 pound of cooked shrimp, thawed (I used large prawns and cut mine into thirds)

1 cup baby corn, cut into bite-sized pieces  

1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch to 1-inch pieces

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Fresh-squeezed lime juice (I used about 1 1/2 tablespoons)

Directions

1.  Place the sweet potato pieces into a medium sauce pan, cover with water, boil until tender, and drain the water. 
2. While your potatoes are cooking, add the vegetable oil to a large skillet, and over medium to medium-high heat, saute the mustard seeds for 1 minute. (My burners overheat, so I used medium heat to avoid burning and extreme oil splattering).  
3. Add the onion, ginger, and chiles into the pan and saute for 5-6 minutes or until the onion is golden brown.
4. Add the coconut milk and curry powder and stir until mixed well. 
5. Add the shrimp, potato, and baby corn, simmering  2-3 minutes or until everything is heated
6. Stir in salt, pepper, and lime juice.

Serve over rice and top with Greek yogurt, which adds a great tang. We also had some flatbread!