SHRIMP IN CHILI COCONUT SAUCE

I have to admit, I'm a seafood junkie! Aside from veggies, it makes me feel light especially after having a number of consecutive meat-days. Especially when it's super fresh, you know that what you're having is definitely healthier. Though I love meaty goodness like bacon, burgers and steaks, it's also great to have a break sometimes from these things, better if most of the time actually. In this post, I'm going to share with you one of the dishes that I've learned from TSP (my Mum) and an absolute favorite of mine, it's shrimp in chili coconut sauce!

RECIPE FOR SHRIMP IN CHILI COCONUT SAUCE:

1/2 kilo of shrimps

2 cups of first coconut milk (Kakang gata)

4-5 tablespoons of cooking oil

3 cloves of garlic, minced

A medium sized onion, finely chopped

A piece of beef cube

2 pieces of chili pepper (siling labuyo), chopped

Achuete water (a.k.a. Annatto or Achiote)

Salt to taste

Heat the cooking oil in a pan and saute the garlic and onion. Add in the beef cube until it dissolves a little. Pour in the coconut milk then let it simmer until it starts reduce. After that, throw in the chili peppers and a pinch of salt. Add in the achuete water until the desired color of the sauce is achieved just like in the above picture and then let it reduce further.

Once you see that the sauce is starting to form some lumps because of the coconut milk, that's the time that you'll be putting in the shrimps as they get cooked quite fast and we don't want them to be rubbery. Cook it until the sauce is fully lumped and until the oil comes out.

FOOD RESCUE: SHRIMP PASTA IN CHILI COCONUT SAUCE!
When you have some left-overs the next day, you might want to have it with a little twist other than re-heating it. Why not boil some of your preferred pasta noodles, peel the shells off of the shrimps and set it aside with the sauce. Melt a pat of butter in a pan, saute some chopped onions and minced garlic and throw everything in! Top it off with some cheese and parsley and voila! You've just got yourself some awesome stir-fried shrimp pasta! Happy eating!