Healthy Recipe, Indian Coconut Shrimp Curry

Butter chicken is a menu favorite of traditional Indian restaurants that’s full of alluring spices and — typically — butter and cream. This recipe, adapted from “Delicious Tonight” by Nagi Maehashi (Countryman Press, $35), captures the flavors and silky richness of that dish in a healthier way, subbing shrimp for the chicken, dialing back the fat, and relying on coconut milk and yogurt for the creaminess.

Serves 4. – Susan Puckett

Curry paste:

1/3 cup plain yogurt

1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger

1 teaspoon freshly grated garlic

2 teaspoons lemon or lime juice

2 teaspoons garam masala

1 teaspoon ground cumin

¾ teaspoon ground turmeric

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Shrimp:

1 tablespoon unrefined coconut oil

1 pound medium to large shrimp, peeled and deveined (1 ¾ pounds before peeling)

½ teaspoon kosher salt

Curry sauce:

1 cup tomato passata or canned crushed, pureed tomatoes

1 cup full-fat coconut milk

½ cup water

4 teaspoons sugar

¾ teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon ghee or unsalted butter

To serve:

Basmati or other white rice

Chopped cilantro or mint (optional)

Instructions

1. Make the curry paste: In a medium bowl, mix the yogurt, ginger, garlic, lemon or lime juice, garam masala, cumin, turmeric, and cayenne pepper. Remove 3 tablespoons of the paste and set aside for the sauce.

2. Add the shrimp and salt to the remaining curry paste in the bowl and, with a rubber spatula, toss well to coat. Have a plate ready by the stove.

3. Cook the shrimp: In a large, nonstick skillet, melt the coconut oil over high heat. Working quickly, lay half the curry paste-coated shrimp in the pan in a single layer. Cook for 1 minute, then flip and cook on the other side for 1 minute (don’t cook them all the way through), then transfer them to the plate. Repeat with the remaining shrimp, reserving the paste left in the bowl.  Remove the pan to briefly cool.

4. Make the curry sauce: Return the pan to medium heat and add the reserved curry paste, the tomato passata, coconut milk, water, sugar, and salt. Scrape any residual curry paste in the shrimp bowl into the pan and stir to blend.

5. Bring the sauce to a gentle simmer, then cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until the sauce thickens into a syrupy consistency. Add the ghee or butter and stir until it melts.

6. Add the shrimp and any accumulated juices to the sauce and toss to coat. Cook for 2 minutes, or until the shrimp are cooked through. Place a mound of rice in each serving bowl and ladle the shrimp and sauce over each. Sprinkle with cilantro or mint, if desired, and serve.

Susan Puckett is an Atlanta-based food writer and cookbook author.