Spicy Basil Shrimp – Sybaritica

Today’s dish is just something I put together with ingredients I just happened to have on hand. It has no special culinary roots, and, really, is just vaguely a sort of east-west fusion type of creation. I did, however, get to use some of the Turmeric Puree I featured in another post not long ago …

I first marinated about a dozen medium shrimp in about a teaspoon of Turmeric Puree and a teaspoon of ground coriander seed. If you don’t have the same commercial turmeric puree, you could use powdered turmeric made into a paste with a little water.

The veggie portion of the dish consists of a small zucchini cut into rounds. You could simply saute these, but I like first brushing them with a little oil and quickly grilling them as this adds a nice smoky flavor.

I next sautéed a little shredded onion in oil along with some Chili paste. The paste I used here was a fairly mild Filipino product and so I jazzed it up a bit with a sliced Thai red chili as well.

Next, I added the shrimp and just a plash or two of water, and cooked until the shrimp were just nicely pink.

Finally, I added a small bunch of torn fresh Basil leaves and cooked just long enough until the leaves were wilted. This needs to be served piping hot. You could put it over noodles, or alongside rice, but I ate it with nothing else at all…