Green Curry Shrimp with Rice

This blog posting could also be entitled The Best Laid Plans. Despite my best plans, a recipe I've been eager to make (a variation on butter chicken) still waits in my cookbook for its turn. My plan all week was to make it on Wednesday night, but that plan was derailed by a migraine, followed by a work dinner the next night, followed by the sudden realization on Friday night that I should stop ignoring my body and admit that I'm sick (sadly missing out on an event I'd been looking forward to!), and as Saturday rolled around I decided to go with something much more simple that could be made with ingredients I had on hand.

I simplified this recipe quite a bit. Perhaps the original is better (almost certainly), but this version is easier. And today (actually yesterday given that I couldn't actually get the post finished yesterday), when I'm still feeling slightly under the weather, easier wins out by a mile (kilometer?).

A few caveats about the recipe. The sauce is delicious, but a bit on the water side. You might want to let it reduce longer or else cut back on the chicken broth even more (the recipe below is already reduced!). Second, I made this with rice noodles, but the method they give for cooking the noodles isn't really conducive to good noodles and given how watery the sauce is, I'm going to suggest pairing it with regular rice. YMMV.

One Year Ago: Mastering the poached egg ... or almost eggs benedict

Green Curry Shrimp with Rice (adapted from epicurious.com)

Ingredients
2 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
2 heaping tablespoons bottled Asian green curry paste (mine was probably closer to 3)
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 (13- to 14-oz) can unsweetened coconut milk (not low-fat)
1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth (see notes above)
750g peeled and deveined large shrimp (I used less)
2 to 3 teaspoons Asian fish sauce, or to taste
cooked rice

1. In a large, deep frying pan, heat 1 tbsp or so of coconut cream (the thick part of the coconut milk) over medium heat. Add garlic, ginger, curry paste, sugar, salt and turmeric and allow to cook until mixture begins to stick to pot and smells fragrant, 8-10 minutes.
2. Add coconut milk and broth and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until reduced to about 3 2/3 cups, 8 to 10 minutes.
3. Add shrimp to sauce and simmer, stirring, until just cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and stir in fish sauce and salt and pepper to taste.
5. Ladle shrimp and sauce over rice.