My Family's Recipe for Sweet, Tart, and Perfectly Cooked Shrimp in Creamy Tamarind-Coconut Sauce
Serious Eats / Kanika and Jatin SharmaOne of my favorite ways to eat shrimp is the Indian dish khadkhadi, plump shrimp simmered in a rich and tart sauce featuring ingredients commonly used in the west coast of the country, including tamarind and coconut. I learned how to cook khadkhadi from my mother’s sister, Maya Kale-Laud, who cooked it often. It’s so loved by me and my family that Maya even contributed her recipe for it to my cookbook The Essential Marathi Cookbook.The dish's name is an onomatopoeia: In Maya and my mother's mother tongue of Marathi, khadkhadna refers to the bubbling sound made by the ingredients cooking in a hot liquid. In the dish, shrimp are first brined to give them a plump, snappy texture, then they bubble away in a velvety coconutty sauce made tangy from tamarind pulp. It’s delightfully savory, a little sweet, and acidic all at once. Because the sound of the shrimp cooking is loud, I lovingly refer to the dish as “noisy” shrimp. Maya Maushi—Maushi means mother's sister in Marathi, the language of my state, Maharashtra—often cooked khadkhadi for her seafood-loving family, and it’s easy to see why: It’s a quick dish, ready in less than an hour and can be served hot right away or eaten cold as a pickled condiment for the next five days. As the shrimp brine briefly, you can soak the tamarind and make the coconut-garlic paste. Then after a mere 15 minutes of cooking, dinner is ready.Hot, khadkhadi is a filling main course on white rice or a flavorful snack on toast. Out of the refrigerator, it can be used as a satisfyingly spicy condiment with Indian food or served cold on dressed greens for a lip-smacking salad. I keep the essence of Maushi’s recipe here, tweaking it only slightly. Here are a few tips for making this sweet, tart, and savory coconut and tamarind shrimp recipe at home.Serious Eats / Kanika and Jatin SharmaTips for Cooking Coconut and Tamarind ShrimpFor juicier shrimp, brine with salt and baking soda. Tossing the shrimp with salt and baking soda briefly before cooking greatly enhances the shrimp’s flavor and seasoning; brining with salt ensures the shrimp remain moist as they cook, while alkaline baking soda delivers a pleasantly firm texture.Here, I toss the shrimp with the salt and baking soda plus red chile powder and ground turmeric for additional flavor. In my tests, I found that the shrimp had the best flavor and texture when brined for 30 to 45 minutes. Just make sure to refrigerate them during this time so they stay fresh, and use a glass or metal bowl that will not stain from the vibrant turmeric and chile powder.Start with frozen fresh coconut flakes for a flavorful sauce. While Maushi used a grinding stone to make her coconut and garlic paste, here I call for a food processor. Using a food processor requires adding water to the coconut mixture to ensure the processor’s blade catches the mixture and blends until smooth. (If you prefer to use a mortar and pestle, you can omit water initially and add one tablespoon at a time if needed to loosen the mixture.) Make sure to use frozen fresh flakes, not desiccated or dried sweetened flakes. Fresh coconut flakes have a richer, more intense coconut flavor than dried varieties do.Make your own tamarind paste; it’s easier than you think. Store-bought prepared tamarind paste is available at many Indian food markets, and may seem like the easier option since little to no prep is needed for it, but I strongly recommend not using prepared tamarind paste, which can vary greatly in texture and flavor and they often lack the depth of flavor and thicker texture of a paste that’s freshly prepared with tamarind pulp. Instead make your own paste from scratch with tamarind pulp; the effort is worth it for the balanced tart and sweet flavor it adds to the final dish. I recommend using Indian tamarind pulp, as Thai tamarind pulp is typically too sweet for this savory application. Start with a tamarind pulp block and cut or pinch off two ounces from the larger block into two-inch chunks. From there, steep it in boiling water for 15 minutes to soften, then squeeze and mash the pulp to separate it from the fibers and seeds, and finally press it through a fine-mesh strainer. Make sure to use a flexible spatula to scrape off any usable paste that clings to the underside of the strainer, and add it to the bowl with the rest of the paste. This process separates and removes the fibers and seeds from the pulp to form a thick, sweet, tart, and complex tasting paste.Serve hot or cold. One of my favorite things about this recipe is that it is great served hot right after cooking as a main dish, but it is also wonderful when cooled down, refrigerated, and served cold. As the shrimp sit in the acidic tamarind and coconut sauce, they pickle and develop a brighter, sharper flavor over time. The acidic sauce preserves the shrimp so they can last up to a full week in the refrigerator.Serious Eats / Kanika and Jatin SharmaIf you plan to eat the shrimp as a main course, I recommend using large shrimp. But If you plan to refrigerate it and serve it as a condiment or salad topping later, I recommend using small shrimp. I find that smaller shrimp clump together more in the sauce and are easier to spoon as a cohesive topping on toast, which is how I like to enjoy it. Think of the small pieces of mango you find in a mango pickle or chutney—you will have a similar experience with spreadability if using smaller shrimp.For brining the shrimp: In a large metal or glass bowl, toss the shrimp with salt, chile powder, turmeric, and baking soda until combined and refrigerate for 30 to 45 minutes before cooking.Serious Eats / Kanika and Jatin SharmaFor the tamarind paste: While the shrimp brine, in a separate bowl, break up the tamarind into 2-inch chunks as best you can. Cover with boiling water for 15 minutes. Then, using your hands or a potato masher, mash the tamarind to break it up thoroughly to separate the pulp from the fruit fibers. Lightly squeeze the tamarind pulp to extract as much liquid as possible. Continue to soak for 5 minutes more. Use a fine-mesh strainer to drain the mixture into another bowl, and use a spatula to press gently on the pulp to extract as much pulp as possible through the strainer, scraping the bottom of the strainer occasionally and adding that extracted pulp to the bowl below. Discard the remaining threads, seeds, and skin of the fruit. You should have 8 to 10 tablespoons of the pulp paste; set aside.Serious Eats / Kanika and Jatin SharmaFor the coconut-garlic paste: While tamarind soaks, in high powdered blender, pulse coconut, garlic, and water to a fine, soft paste. Add up to 2 tablespoons more water if needed to get a silky paste. The paste should be very soft, finer than pesto, with no visible coconut flecks. There should also be no freestanding water left after grinding. If there is water, pulse further (3 to 4 more pulses) to incorporate the water into the coconut. (Alternatively, grind the coconut, garlic, and water to a fine, soft paste with a mortar and pestle, adding water 1 tablespoon at a time as needed to loosen the mixture. ) Serious Eats / Kanika and Jatin SharmaFor cooking the shrimp: Keeping a lid or screen handy, in a medium saucepan, heat the oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Reduce heat to low and test the oil with one mustard seed. If it pops right away, the oil is ready to proceed; if not, return heat to medium-high briefly (about 15 seconds) and retest. When ready, quickly add the remaining mustard seeds to the saucepan and cover quickly with the lid/screen. The mustard seeds will pop, making a sound like popping corn for about 15 seconds. Once the popping stops, reduce heat to low, uncover and immediately add coconut-garlic paste. Cook, stirring often with a spoon and scraping the bottom of the pan periodically to ensure that no coconut sticks to it, until the mixture begins to turn golden and aromatic, being careful to not burn the mixture, 1 to 2 minutes.Serious Eats / Kanika and Jatin SharmaIncrease the heat to medium–high and add the brined shrimp to the pan and stir to combine with the paste. Add the prepared tamarind pulp and water into the pan and stir to combine. Cook until bubbling, 1 to 2 minutes.Serious Eats / Kanika and Jatin SharmaReduce heat to medium-low and cook until shrimp just turn opaque and pink and sauce is bubbling and thickened, 2 to 3 minutes.Serious Eats / Kanika and Jatin SharmaLet sit off heat, covered, until shrimp is fully cooked, 1 to 5 minutes. Serve immediately with rice and garnish with cilantro or cool to room temperature, then refrigerate in an airtight container until ready to serve. The shrimp can be served warm, at room temperature, or chilled. Serious Eats / Kanika and Jatin SharmaSpecial EquipmentMetal or glass bowl for brining shrimp (so the turmeric does not stain plastic), fine-mesh strainer, food processor or mortar and pestle, medium saucepan with a lid or screenNotesThe recipe can easily be doubled, if desired.If serving the shrimp hot as a main course, I recommend using large shrimp, while if planning to serve the shrimp cold as a condiment or spread on toast, I prefer to use smaller shrimp.For a spicier version, add more chile powder to the shrimp brine.Make-Ahead and StorageMake khadkhadi as a condiment up to 7 days before you wish to serve it. Store in an airtight glass jar or other tightly sealed container. Serve at room temperature or cold.
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