Chingri Jha - Shrimp with Crushed Mustard Seeds - Indian Feast Part Two

I don't cook shrimp anywhere near often enough. Their sweet flavor combined with speed of cooking makes for the perfect hot weather meal - especially on a busy weekend when you've been out kayaking, biking, sailing (or alternately, doing laundry, sweeping, mowing the lawn and washing dishes - sometimes when I blog, I tend to focus on all of my active activities, rather than the mundane ones which also fill my free hours).

For your dining pleasure - another recipe from Madhur Jaffrey's Step-By-Step Cooking without any hard-to-find ingredients (at least if you substitute regular vegetable oil for the mustard oil the way I did). This recipe also recommends serving it with the Fresh Cilantro and Yogurt Chutney.

Shrimp with Crushed Mustard Seeds

• 1 lb. medium shrimp
• 1 t black mustard seeds (mine were locally grown and purchased from the Farmer's Market)
• 1/8 t ground turmeric
• 2 t tomato paste
• 4 T mustard oil, or other vegetable oil
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• 2 think slices fresh ginger, peeled
• 1 hot dried red chili
• 3/4 t salt
• large pinch of freshly ground black pepper
• 1 T lemon or lime juice

Peel and devein shrimp. Rinse well, then pat dry.

Crush the mustard seeds, using a pestle and mortar or spice or coffee grinder. In a small bowl, mix the crushed mustard seeds, turmeric, and tomato paste, together with 3 T hot water. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium high heat. Add the garlic cloves, ginger slices, and dried chili and fry, stirring, for a few seconds until the mixture begins to darken, then add the shrimp. Fry, stirring, until the shrimp turn opaque.

Stir in the mustard seed paste and turn the heat to medium-low. Add teh salt, pepper, and lemon or lime juice. Fry, stirring, for another two minutes.

Transfer to a warm serving dish. Serve with a rice dish, one or two vegetable side dishes and a yogurt relish, such as Fresh Cilantro and Yogurt Chutney.