I don’t make shrimp often enough and I’m not even sure why. It’s so easy and shrimp can be flavored in so many ways. This particular dish is a little bit creamy, a little bit spicy and is loaded with flavor.
My oldest son is the big shrimp lover in our house and he doesn’t like it breaded….interesting and much healthier…obviously. My youngest son is allergic to shellfish so he did not partake in any of this, which was absolutely fine with him.
I do love recipes like this one because you can try all kinds of flavors and experiment with things you haven’t used before. Shrimp is one of those blank canvas meals, it’s just waiting for the perfect sauce.
Lemongrass is something I think a lot of people haven’t played with in the kitchen. It’s in the fancy herb produce section at your market, but you’ve never picked it up. Here’s your big chance to finally make something with it.
This is what lemongrass looks like. As you can see, it doesn’t look like grass at all (maybe a grass grows out of the top, I’ve never actually looked it up to see how it looks while in the ground). The stalks are very coarse but are amazingly fragrant. This should be readily available in your grocery store. I live in the boonies, so if I can get it….I hope you can.
In this recipe you are going to coarsely chop the lemongrass and blend it into a puree with other key ingredients. It adds a really nice background flavor to this dish.
I used my cast iron skillet to finish for the final saute. This lovely coconut sauce gets poured over the rice and it will be all smiles around the table.
I decided to leave the tails on the shrimp because I like the way it looks. However, feel free to remove them before cooking as it does make this easier to eat. I’ll let you decide how you want to do it.
Coconut Milk-Lemongrass Shrimp
Ingredients
- 1 can (14 oz) coconut milk
- 2 stalks lemongrass, about 4-6" each, ends trimmed, coarsely chopped
- 1 large shallot, coarsely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 thick slices fresh ginger, peeled
- 2 Tablespoons Sriracha
- zest and juice of 2 limes
- 25-30 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- snow peas
- rice
Directions
- Place coconut milk, lemongrass, shallot, garlic, ginger, Sriracha, zest and lime juice in a blender. Puree until smooth. Reserve 1-1/4 cup of this liquid.
- In a large bowl, pour the rest of the coconut puree over the shrimp and let marinate for at least three hours in the refrigerator.
- (To get the nice char marks on my shrimp I brushed my grill pan with peanut oil and grilled them for a minute a or two over high heat. But you can just cook them in your skillet if you do not have a grill pan or want to skip this step.)
- Heat olive oil over med-high heat. Add snow peas (as many as you like) and saute for about two minutes. Add reserved coconut puree and let it cook for about a minute. Since your pan is hot, the liquid will bubble. Add shrimp and saute until cooked and opaque looking, about 3-4 minutes (less time if you had them on the grill pan first).
- Pour mixture over rice. I served this with a combination of jasmine and brown rice but you can use whatever kind you like.
If you love cooking with Coconut Milk, here are 22 other recipes that use Coconut Milk as a main ingredient. You’ll want to make them all!
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