Curry in a Hurry

I like to cook, but have to admit I've never made curry from scratch - I was a bit intimidated. Tonight though, my friends were passing back through on their way to Santa Barbara and I wanted to try something fun and different. I pulled out a San Francisco Chronicle recipe for Coconut Shrimp Curry. I had intended to go to China Town to get curry leaves and tamarind paste, but work got in the way of my social life and I scrapped that plan. Instead, on the way home, I popped into the little Asian-run market hoping that they would have some specialty items--they did!

They had a jar of tamarind goo, which wasn't exactly what was in the recipe - it called for paste, which sounded like bark that you soaked in water. They also didn't have curry leaves, but my Malaysian friend suggested that Kafir lime leaves would work just as well for this dish.

The time it took to make the curry really wasn't too long. Yes, it took a little more effort to chop, grind, blend, puree & saute, rather than scoop a tablespoon of paste out of a jar, but the reviews for this dish were raves. One note - the recipe called for 30 dried chilis. I purchased a bag of red and green tiny chilis, which when tasted were quite hot so I only used one. In retrospect, I could have used 2, or maybe three. The one (hot) chili really wasn't enough to give heat to the dish.

One note: after chopping chilis, wash hands well. Do not-I repeat-do not rub your eye or stick a finger in your mouth--extreme burning will ensue.