Prawn White Curry (Sri Lanka)

Whoa! This was so good! The flavours are still having a party in my mouth as I write this! It's really easy to make too. You can prepare the sauce ahead and then add the shrimp 4 minutes before serving. This is a recipe from the book Mangoes and Curry Leaves by Jeffrey Alford & Naomi Duguid. It's a beautiful travel cookbook detailing the culture, scenery and food of Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. I've "borrowed" this from Bill Badger. I'm starting to notice that I have a bad habit of taking over other people's cookbooks. The one ingredient that you may not easily find is curry leaves- I have seen them fresh at Rocky Montana's but I think I bought them frozen at the spice store in Jean-Talon Market. If you really want to make this recipe and you can't find them, I'll give you some of mine (I'm thinking of Julie and Darlene here)!

1 pound of medium shrimps, fresh or frozen

6-10 curry leaves

1 tbsp minced garlic or garlic mashed to a paste

1 tsp of salt

1/4 tsp of ground fenugreek

1 cup of coconut milk

1 cup of water

2 green cayenne chiles, finely chopped

1/3 cup of minced shallots

1 tsp minced ginger

1/4 tsp turmeric

1 large tomato, cut into 1/2-inch dice

1 to 2 tsp fresh lime juice

Rinse, peel, devein shrimp and put it aside.

Put all the ingredients except the shrimp and the lime juice into a medium heavy pot. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes or until the sauce is a little reduced and thickened.

Add the shrimp and cook until 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the lime and remove from the heat.

Serve immediately.

Cold Rice Pilaf

I made this at the beginning of the summer with a lebanese grilled chicken and it complimented the spicy meat really well. As much as I like potato salad, I think this is a lighter, healthier and more refreshing summer side dish. I sometimes just use leftover brown rice and other times I cook up a rice blend (Lundberg). It's important that the rice not be warm when you mix the ingredients, the heat will alter the taste and texture of all the vegetables. If I have a lot of the pilaf left over, I like to throw in a can of salmon or tuna and have it for lunch the next day.

3 cups of cooked brown rice or rice blend (tastes better if you cooked the rice in stock)

1 1/2 cups of your choice of finely diced crunchy vegetables (fennel, celery, red pepper, mild radish)

1/3 cup of red onion shallots or scallions

1/3 cup of sliced almonds (pecans are good too)

1/3 cup of dried cranberry

1/3 cup of your choice of finely diced fresh fruit (cherries, peach, apple)

1/2 tsp of cinnamon

juice of one orange

2-3 tbsp of olive oil

2-3 tbsp of seasoned rice vinegar (if you don't have any, use regular vinegar and add a few tsp of honey)

3 tbsp of mint

Directions: Blend all ingredients.