Feast on spicy shrimp
The next time you feel rich enough to buy big shrimp, and the green beans look crisp and fresh, try this luxury recipe, a flavourful dish with Indonesian roots.
It’s from Emily Wight’s new cookbook, Dutch Feast (Arsenal, $32.95). The Vancouver home cook, who blogs at wellfedflatbroke.com, married into a Dutch family and learned to enjoy Holland’s cuisine, including the Rijsttafel (rice table). The elaborate feast of many dishes served with rice was imported in colonial times from the Dutch East Indies. Dutch food is not known to many Canadians, and this book takes on the job with style, mouth-watering cooking and handsome photographs.
Cheese lovers will find many tempting dishes. Fish and seafood are celebrated, as are the ample vegetables of this small country. Pies and tarts are never too sweet. And cooking Dutch style need not be expensive or time-consuming unless you decide to dip into the chapter on the Rijsttafel and cook your own.
For this shrimp dish, Wight suggests turning your rice yellow with turmeric.
SPICY SHRIMP WITH GREEN BEANS
Serves: 4
1/4 cup (60 mL) butter
4 garlic cloves, minced 1/4 cup (60 mL) sambal oelek ( hot chili paste) 1 tbsp (15 mL) fish sauce 1 tbsp (15 mL) brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) freshly ground pepper
1 lb (500 g) jumbo shrimp (21 to 30 count), peeled, deveined
1 lb (500 g) fresh green beans, trimmed
1 lime, zest (grated rind) and juice
Salt
2 green onions, minced
1. Melt butter in a large, heavy frying pan over medium-high heat and sauté garlic for about 1 minute, until fragrant but not browned, stirring frequently. Stir in sambal oelek, fish sauce, sugar and pepper and cook 1 to 2 minutes, until liquid has almost evaporated, making a chunky paste.
2. Add shrimp to paste, tossing to coat, and sauté for about 4 minutes, just until cooked through.
3. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat, add beans and cook for 30 seconds, or until just tender. Drain and spread on platter.
4. Stir lime zest and juice into shrimp mixture, adding salt to taste. Spoon shrimp over beans and scrape any surplus paste over shrimp.
5. Sprinkle with green onions and serve at once.