Ginger Apricot Shrimp

Finally back to my favorite topic - food! This is my FAVORITE recipe of all time - I come back to it over and over again, because it is delicious and works in all seasons. It's spicy and warming in the winter, but still light enough for summer, and everyone I have made it for has given it rave reviews. Fair warning: depending on the curry powder you use, it can get quite spicy. I usually use the Lunds and Byerlys brand curry powder, but recently I bought one from Bill's Imported foods that is a little spicier, so if you're sensitive to spice and you are using a more fiery blend you might want to cut back on the cayanne a little bit.


This is also a nice, quick recipe - once you have everything chopped up, the whole thing comes together in about 10 minutes. This dish is best eaten outside, under the stars with a glass of white wine. Enjoy!


GINGER-APRICOT SHRIMP
Modified from Bon Appetit

12 dried Apricot halves
Rasins - enough so that the volume is similar to the apricots

For the sauce:
2/3 cup chicken broth
2 T soy sauce
1 T mango chutney
2 t Pad Thai sauce
1 t sugar

For the spice mix:
1-1/4 t ground cumin
1-1/4 t curry powder
1-1/4 t garlic powder
1/2 t cayanne pepper


3 T vegetable oil
1/2 cup thinly sliced white onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 t chopped peeled fresh ginger
1/2 cup carrots, cut into matchstick-sized slices
16 uncooked, peeled and deveined shrimp
green onion for garnish

Place apricots and raisins in a smallish bowl, cover with boiling water. Let stand 15 minutes and then drain in a strainer and cut apricots into quarters.

Mix the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl, mix spice ingredients together in a separate small bowl.

Heat vegetable oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook until translucent (around 2 minutes). Add garlic and ginger and cook for another 30 seconds, then add the apricots, raisins and carrots. Sautee for another minute or so, until the onions begin to brown. Add the shrimp and spice blend, stirring so that the spices coat all ingredients, cook until the shrimp are pink on both sides but not cooked in the middle. Add the broth mixture and cook until the shrimp are just opaque in the center. Serve over brown rice and sprinkle with green onions.

** notes: I made a couple of substitutions due to availability and personal preference. The original recipe calls for dried plums (prunes) instead of raisins, but I like the flavor and size contrast better with raisins. Also, the original recipe calls for tamarind concentrate, but I just use pad thai sauce because a) tamarind is hard to find and b) pad thai sauce has tamarind in it... so it's kind of similar... but you could certainly use tamarind if you want.