Risotto au curry et aux crevettes

If you know how to make the Italian dish called risotto, then this is an easy variation on the theme. Lightly brown some arborio rice in oil or butter. Don't rinse the rice before you start cooking it; you want the starch in the risotto as a thickener. Start pouring in hot broth a cup or less at a time, stirring each time until the broth is absorbed by the rice. Keep adding broth little by little — four cups of shrimp broth, in this case — and keep stirring until the rice is cooked and creamy. It takes about half an hour.

    

About halfway through the cooking process, spoon in a couple of tablespoons of curry power. For this risotto, I used a curry powder called colombo, which comes from the French-speaking islands in the Caribbean. When the rice is nearly done, stir in a blanched green vegetable (I used okra for added creaminess) and let it finish cooking in the rice. When the rice is cooked and creamy, top it with pre-cooked shrimp and add some basil leaves as a garnish.

I put a tablespoon or so of tomato paste in for sweetness and color. I also added some spicy-hot smoked paprika. I plan to make this with green beans, chicken, and chicken broth soon. As you might notice, we served it with potstickers that we bought at an Asian grocery store... and with hot sauce (Portuguese piri-piri) at the table.