Jamaican Curry Shrimp

Spain controlled Jamaica, which they called "Santiago," from the time of Columbus until the island was invaded and conquered by the English in the late 1600s. The island remained an English/British colony until the early 1960s, although Queen Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of Jamaica to this day.

South Asian Indian cuisine has had an influence on Jamaican cooking going back into the 1800s, as Indians began to arrive as indentured servants. Goat curry has become a part of Jamaican life, although other curries, such as shrimp curry, are not uncommon. "Scotch bonnet" chili peppers are closely associated with Jamaica. These peppers tend toward being VERY hot, but I haven't seen them in supermarkets or produce markets here in Cleveland for quite some time, as habanero peppers have taken over that part of the super hot chili pepper market. "Authentic" Jamaican food would have Scotch bonnet peppers, but you can use habanero pepper. Chili peppers can vary tremendously in heat, so it's best to "sample" a chili, before you use it in a recipe. I've had chilies of various types be far hotter than than their reputation, but I've also had "hot" chilies that were so mild, as to barely register on the heat meter, and that includes habaneros. So saying "use 1 serrano," or "1/2 of a habanero" can be deceiving. When trying a chili pepper, if you take a small (I mean, head of a pin size) piece from up near to where the pepper connected to the plant stem, you'll get a better representation as to how hot the pepper is. For this recipe, I used 1/2 of a habanero pepper and it provided quite a kick, but it didn't overwhelm the dish. If you don't like heat, substitute just a pinch of ground cayenne pepper. If you like crazy heat, use a whole habanero, but remember what I wrote above, about how chilies can vary in heat.

Ingredients:

1 to 1 1/4 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined (seasoned with 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 2 teaspoons curry powder)
1 cup chopped onion
2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 teaspoons fresh thyme
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon thick ketchup
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 cup vegetable broth
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2  scotch bonnet (or habanero chili pepper), finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons corn starch mixed with 3 tablespoons water

In a skillet or a sauce pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, the garlic, the red bell pepper and the chili pepper. Saute until vegetables soften, stirring often to prevent any burning. Add the thyme, the ketchup and the curry powder. Stir well and cook for about two minutes. Add the broth and stir well. Bring the mixture to a simmer and then stir in the coconut milk, reduce heat to low. Add the seasoned shrimp and cook until tender. Stir in the salt. As the mixture bubbles lightly, gradually stir in the corn starch and water mixture and cook until the liquid thickens up. Serve with rice, some Bob Marley music and a video of Usain Bolt running a race.   

Served with white rice...

WORD HISTORY: 

God-The ultimate Indo European origin of this word for a deity has been seen by some as uncertain, but it seems likely to go back to Indo European "gheweh," which had the idea of, "to call, to call upon." This gave Old Germanic "gutha," meaning, "one called upon;" that is, "a divine entity, a deity." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "god," meaning, "deity," then, with the acceptance of Christianity in England, the transfer of the meaning to the Christian notion of "the Supreme Being;" thus, "God," with a capital "g" to elevate the word and show reverence, but also used with a small "g" for non Christian deities, a practice used by some other Germanic languages. The other Germanic languages have: German "Gott," Low German Saxon "Gott,"^ West Frisian "God/god," Dutch "god," Danish "Gud/gud," Icelandic "Goð/goð" (ð=th), Norwegian and Swedish "Gud/gud."  

^ German and Low German capitalize all nouns; thus the capital "G."