Dinner for Four: Pinapple Shrimp Curry, Samosas, Salad and Dessert
November 08, 2005
Whether you are cooking in your dorm room or setting a table with your finest china, a good dinner party begins with good food. I played host many times in my college dorm kitchen and am confident that you fare better times with conveniences such as a microwave, freezer, fridge larger than a cooler, and a dishwasher. I went without all these things and managed to serve up quite a feast with a small range gas stove and 4 pans (one large stock pot, 1 medium sauce pot, 2 sautee pans). Should you like to play host/ess, I suggest a themed dinner. Mine included pineapple shrimp curry, jasmine rice, samosas, salad, and a chocolate dessert made by my flatmate.
For the Samosas you will need: russet potato, frozen peas, cardamom pods, carrot, salt, pepper, parsley, butter, corriander, cumin, white onion, garlic cloves (1 or two to taste), puff pastry or wonton wrappers. These are my imitation version of samosas which are fried or baked wrappers (like pastry dough) filled with seasoned potatoes, peas, and spices.
Step One: Peel your russet potato, dice into small pieces. Boil the diced pieces in a small pot of water with salt until soft. Drain and return papas to the pan.
Step Two: Add 2 tblsp of butter, dash of salt, 3/4 cup of frozen peas, cardamom pods (about 8-10), minced carrot (one), minced 1/8 white onion, 1 clove of garlic minced, 1/2 tsp of cumin and corriander. Sautee these ingredients until peas are hot, stir to keep from sticking.
Step Three: Set this mixture aside and take out your wonton wrappers or puff pastry. If you want low fat samosas, use puff pastry. Cut the pastry into triangles and place 1 tblsp or more worth of potato mixture on each piece, foling over and sealing edge to make a small triangle shape. The samosas should look like hand held appetizers at a party in the shape of triance wedges. If using wonton wrappers, do the same, sealing the edges with a dab of warm water on your finger. Set these aside.
Step Four: If baking puff pastry version, bake triangles at 350 degrees for 5-8 minutes or until pastry is light brown. If using wonton wrapper version, take a small sautee pan and pour 1/2 cup of vegetable oil in pan, adding more if necessary. Put pan on medium heat and carefully fry each side until light golden brown. Set fried samosas on a paper towel to drain off excess oil.
Step Five: Serve this as an appetizer with a small side salad of simple spring greens, red onion, and balsamic vinegar and olice oil dressing. Eat samosas with a side of tamarind sauce, you can buy this at the store pre-made.
For the Curry you will need: a red curry paste from your local asian grocer (thai style), bamboo shoots, white onions, ginger, thai basil, garlic, potatoes, coconut milk, veggie stock, white wine, salt, pepper, shrimp (deveined and peeled, raw).
Step One: In a large sautee pan, add 1/4 thin sliced white onions, 3/4 cup of bamboo shoots, 2 finely sliced cloves of garlic, 1 thumb sized piece of ginger minced, 1 plug of olive oil, and 1 russet potato peeled and diced. Sautee this for 4 minutes on medium high heat.
Step Two: Add 1 cup of white wine, 2 tblsp of red curry paste, 1 can of coconut milk, and 1 cup of veggie stock. Bring to a simmer and turn down heat.
Step Three: Pluck the leaves from 5 sprigs of thai basil (or more to taste) and throw these into the pan. While this cooks, you should make your rice according to the directions.
Step Four: About 3 minutes before serving, add your peeled, raw, deveined shrimp to the pan and bring to a simmer. Take pan off heat as soon as shrim turn pink (about 3 minutes). Serve this over the rice.
The chocolate pie luxury dessert is all Susan, so she will have to post her recipe if she believes you all worthy.
Serve the samosas and the salad first. If you eat on paper plates or china, you should serve this as a first course. Serve the curry and rice next, making sure to add the shrimp only before serving as it cooks very fast and will turn rubbery if you add it too early. Finish off with dessert. Should you wonder about proper dinner service, I can add a posting on that at a future date if need be. In any case, serve and enjoy with friends.
