SPINACH-SHRIMP CURRY

Leafy vegetables has been an important part of Bangladeshi cuisine. Throughout my life, I have had numerous leafy vegetables. Interestingly, I barely knew what they were, until recently after I started taking an interest in cooking. It has been an important replacement for meat in my diet. I must have mentioned numerous times by now that I am more of a veg-lover. Though I didn't like spinach or any leafy vegetables as much, but my mom knew exactly how to cook it so we would like it, more like 'love it'. She is one hell of a clever lady, making all of us (me and my siblings) love vegetables from the core.

I am not very familiar with all the leafy vegetables in the States, so I often end up buying spinach in bulk. Mostly because they are so easy to cook and they are full of nutrients wrapped up in a low-calorie package. It is extremely beneficial for skin, hair and health. Spinach also contains numerous insoluble fibers which facilitates digestion. When thrown in together with shrimps, it boosts the protein content in the dish and is absolutely delicious.

I left my job few months back and applied for my higher studies. Since then, it has become a routine to spend a good amount of time studying while I am waiting for my session to start. Yesterday, I happened to be a little extra motivated and ended up studying for longer hours. Turned out, it was past our dinner time and my hubby was getting way too hungry. So I soaked the frozen spinach and shrimps. In the meantime, I chopped up some onions and green chili and added them to a pan smeared with oil along with whole cumin seeds and minced garlic. I sautéed them on medium heat until they started getting some color and added in the spinach, shrimps, and about half cup of water right after. I added salt, turmeric powder and red chili powder to add in the beautiful Asian flavors. In Bangladeshi cuisine, a dish is never complete without a little touch of spices. It took about 15-20 minutes to cook and was ready to be served in practically no time.

Ingredients: (for 2 servings)

4 cups spinach

6 pcs shrimps

0.5 cup chopped onions

1 pcs green chili

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp whole cumin seeds

1 tsp salt

0.5 tsp turmeric powder

0.5 tsp red chili powder

0.5 cup water

1 tbsp oil

In a plate, add a generous amount of the spinach-shrimp curry sided with steamed rice and lentil soup and voila! delicious spinach-shrimp curry is ready to be served.