Indian shrimp and sweet potatoes

I'm sure this will come as no surprise to all of you, but I own a lot of cookbooks. I've gotten to the point where I try to only buy cookbooks that are unique to my collection. I was in the market for an indian cookbook a while back and settled on 5 spices, 50 dishes, which happens to be written by a local author. The premise of the book is simple indian dishes based on 5 spices: coriander, cumin, mustard seeds, cayenne and turmeric. I've made about a quarter of the recipes in the book and have had a lot of success.

For this meal, I paired spicy seared shrimp with ginger and lemon sweet potatoes. The shrimp are quickly seared and seasoned with garlic, turmeric, cayenne, lemon juice, salt and cilantro. For the side dish, cooked cubes of sweet potato are sauteed with a mixture of red onion, mustard seeds, ginger, lemon, turmeric and serrano chile.

A word of warning: the recipes in this book definitely run on the spicy side. We have a pretty high tolerance for heat, but I always find myself cutting back the amount of cayenne and serrano chiles in these recipes. If you're sensitive to heat, you may want to cut back on the spice even further.

Both of these recipes were great - the turmeric turns the shrimp a pretty shade of yellow. I think these shrimp would be really delicious skewered and tossed onto the grill. The sweet potatoes were really unique - the sweetness worked well to counterbalance the spices.

Spicy seared shrimp

Serves 3-4

Adapted from 5 spices, 50 dishes

1 pound of large shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/2 lemon, juiced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 T canola oil

1 T finely chopped cilantro leaves
pinch of cayenne pepper (to taste)

1/2 tsp ground turmeric

salt

Pat the shrimp dry with paper towels. Heat the oil over high heat in a large pan. Add the minced garlic to the oil, cook for one minute. Add the shrimp to the pan, sprinkle with salt, cayenne and turmeric. Cook until shrimp are pink, about 3-5 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice, season to taste with salt. Sprinkle with cilantro before serving.

Sweet potatoes with ginger and lemon

Serves 4

Adapted from 5 spices, 50 dishes

2 pounds of sweet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1 inch cubes, and cooked
1 T canola oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 serrano chile, very thinly sliced

1 medium red onion, finely chopped

1 tsp finely grated ginger

1/2 tsp ground turmeric

salt to taste

2 T lemon juice

Heat the oil in a large saute pan over high heat; add the mustard seeds. Cover the pan with a lid and cook the mustard seeds for a minute. Lower the heat to medium, remove the lid and add the chiles, saute for one minute. Add the onion and ginger. Saute until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the turmeric and stir.

Add the sweet potatoes, season with salt and toss gently to mix. Cover and steam over low heat until the flavors meld, about 4 minutes. Season with lemon juice.

Black-eyed peas in a spicy goan curry

I received the book 5 Spices, 50 Dishes as a birthday present last month. It's a book of simple indian food recipes with a focus on 5 spices: coriander, cumin, mustard seeds, cayenne pepper and turmeric. I've been using this book for quick weeknight meals when I feel like making something a little more exotic. Last night I made black-eyed peas in a spicy goan curry. The recipe is pretty simple. An onion is sauteed over high heat until dark brown. Four of the five spices are added, along with fresh tomato, ginger and garlic. About four cups of black-eyed peas go into the pot with some water and coconut milk. The whole thing is left to simmer for about 25 minutes to let the flavors meld. Add a squeeze of lemon and a sprinkling of cilantro, and you're done! The book says you can use canned black-eyed peas, or soak some dried peas and increase the cooking time. I used black-eyed peas that I had cooked a few weeks ago and froze. This was a nice blend of flavors - creamy from the coconut milk, spicy from the cayenne. I would suggest serving this with a side of rice or naan and some steamed broccoli.