Indian-Inspired Shrimp

Ok, I stumbled across this recipe and became obsessed.  I just had to make it, I looked at other recipes, but the whole time I knew I was going to make this one.

How it's supposed to look:

Ingredients:

1/4 cup ghee or vegetable oil
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 1/2 cups finely chopped red onion
4 to 6 green chiles, seeded and finely chopped
3 tablespoons minced ginger
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (13.5-ounce) can unsweetened coconut milk
1 1/2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Steamed basmati rice, for serving

Directions:

Set a 14-inch saute pan over medium heat. Add the ghee and toast the mustard seeds and cumin until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the onions, chiles, ginger and garlic and saute, stirring occasionally, until the onions are slightly caramelized, about 6 to 8 minutes. Add the tomato paste to the pan and cook for 2 minutes more. Pour the diced tomatoes into the pan and cook until reduced by about half, 3 to 4 minutes. Raise the heat to high, and add the coconut milk. Cook the coconut milk until reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Season the shrimp with 1 1/2 teaspoons of the salt. Add the shrimp to the pan, stirring often, and cook until curled and pink, about 5 minutes. Add the chopped cilantro and season with the remaining salt. Serve the shrimp over steamed basmati rice.

How mine looks:

Conclusion:

This was a bit of a mistake. I tried my best to lower the ingredients to match a meal for one person as opposed to a meal for 4-6, like the recipe calls for.

The biggest mistake was the can of dice tomato. I'm in LA, newly moved out here and trying my best to not spend a lot of money. Which means that I purchased the cheapest brand of diced tomato. I usually use Del Mante diced tomato, but I used Safeway Brand for this and the chicken cacciatore. Both recipes tasted a bit salty and a bit off. The shrimp somehow tasted worst, because there's a lot of tomato products called to be in it.

Tomato weird aftertaste aside, I knew that the meal would have been delicious. The flavors were fine and the apartment smelled like an Indian resturant. Unfortunatlely the damn tomatos ruined everything.

This is a recipe I will try again, this time with a better can of diced tomatoes or perhaps I'll dice my own tomatoes.