Recipe Six - Shrimp Korma

I got an email from the library reminding me that my Jamie Oliver cookbook is due back today. I was going to buy a copy of it for myself after one of my awesome blog friends sent me a link for a 40% off Borders coupon, but I procrastinated and forgot until it was too late and it expired. Boo. This makes me not want to pay full price for it, because now if I do, every time I see it on the shelf I will be mad at myself that I could have gotten it for less. That's just how my mind works. OCD RULES!!!

I did come across a 30% off coupon to Barnes and Noble in my email box a little earlier. That's not 40%, but it's better than full price! I also heard they have this book at Costco - anyone know the price there? I'm cheap I tell ya, cheap! I'll have to wait until Friday to get it though, as in the last two weeks we've had to pay our rent, our car registration, buy wedding gifts, and a few other large expenses. Sometimes living on one income sucks. Then I remember that I got up at 1 pm, taught the baby how to use glue, and made cookies so that makes me feel better. I think I may be bad and just pay the late fees to keep it two extra days so that I can transfer all my post it notes to the new copy.

That brings me to tonight's recipe - Chicken Korma, or rather Shrimp Korma because it said in the recipe notes that this was good made with shrimp and I just happened to have some shrimp in the freezer. This is on page 74.

This was very good. I don't like garbanzo beans, and in fact, I totally gagged at their odor when I opened up the can. I don't like their texture, I don't like their taste, and I don't like the way they smell. Thus, I was not particularly enthused about using them, but decided to follow the directions anyway. This recipe has a long simmer time that seems to be beneficial to them. They got soft and tasted like the sauce, instead of like nasty old garbanzo beans. I ate them all.

I left out the chile, as usual, because I don't like spicy food and I do like for the boy to have what we're having for dinner. I used Greek yogurt because I had a coupon for it when I went shopping. I did not use anywhere near the two cups of yogurt called for in the recipe. I think there is still half of this small container leftover. I also substituted coconut cream for the coconut milk for which the recipe called.

I really like the can. This slightly blurry photo doesn't do it justice. It reminds me of those vintage travel posters.

When I was at the Asian market picking up coconut milk, among other things, a little old lady told me in very bad English that I should use the cream, and not the milk, because the milk was too watery. I ended up buying a can of each. I used the coconut milk in the Chicken Tikka Masala, and just like the little old lady said, the sauce was very thin and I had to simmer it uncovered for an additional ten minutes beyond the cooking time stated in the book.

I used the coconut cream in today's recipe and it's definitely a LOT thicker. I'm assuming it also has a LOT more fat, but since I didn't compare the labels while I had both cans around, I can't be sure. I can tell you that in addition to using the cream in today's recipe, I also simmered it without a lid instead of simmering it covered as the directions stated. This helped to prevent the problem of the sauce being too thin like last time. The only thing was that I had to stir it occasionally, because it did start to stick to the bottom of the pan and scorch a little if I didn't. I think that I'm going to check the fat content on the two next time and just go with the coconut milk if it's a significant difference.

Jamie Oliver's Chicken Shrimp Korma - it's Bubba Approved!