I get a lot of people asking me if all I ever do is cook and eat. Well, obviously not, since you see all of these images here on my blog, you must realize that I also photograph, edit, and edit again.
However, due to very popular demand, I've decided to "publish" some of my recipes - you may recall I've done this before with some other popular items, like my Brazilian Feijoada and my Tuscan Bean Soup. So here's another popular one and this time I decided to take pictures of every step with my handy-dandy iPhone4, using the Hipstamatic app for consistency and a little antique look that I love.
Enjoy! Try it out and let me know what you think:
Ingredients:
1kg Cassava Root (see pictures below if you don't know what that is)
1 can of diced tomatoes
2lbs large shrimp (uncooked)
2 red peppers (diced)
1 large onion (diced)
1 can of coconut milk (not the 'light' kind)
1/2 cup diced cilantro
3 cloves of garlic (of course I use more, I'm just taking it easy on you!)
Salt and pepper to taste.
Chili pepper flakes if you're feeling adventurous.
Directions:
The first thing you need to do is boil the cassava. Cassava is a very strong root that is a lot like potatoes, but much harder. I cook it in a pressure cooker (by the way, I cook almost everything in a pressure cooker) because it's much faster, but you can also boil it in a regular pot. It'll just take longer.
Pressure Cooker time: 30 mins in full boil.
Regular Pot: About 1.5 hours.
Cassava might be hard to find, but I found it in a East Indian grocery shop close to my place, in the freezer. Here's the packaging:
And here's what it looks like, uncooked, frozen:
Here's one of my many pressure cookers, in action:
After the cassava is soft like cooked potatoes, you must remove the core, like this:
This is the consistency that you want:
Then you must puree the cassava root - I do that in my KitchenAid mixer:
Leave the pureed cassava aside.
Dice the veggies and sauté them in a separate pot.
Puree the diced tomatoes. Note here, you might be thinking, why not just use crushed tomatoes instead? I find that pre-crushed tomatoes taste very different, so I don't use them. I prefer to crush my own.
I let that all simmer for about 10 minutes on low, then I add the cilantro and the garlic:
I crush my garlic in a mortar and pestle. I've gone through a lot of garlic presses and this is the only thing that can put up with me...
Let it all simmer for 40 minutes. This is also the point when you should season it with salt and pepper to taste. You can add some chili pepper too, for a little kick.
Meanwhile, you must defrost the shrimp, and then peel and chop them into bite-size pieces.
This is the kind that I buy. If you don't already know this, you need to buy the "black" shrimp. When shrimp is red, it means it's been cooked!
I like to defrost the shrimp in a colander, under cold water.
Peeled and chopped:
Add the shrimp to the sauce and cook it just until the shrimp is red.
Now the finishing touches: Add the cassava pure and mash it into the stew. I add about three cups of the mashed up stuff.
Let this simmer for 5 minutes, until the mixture thickens, then remove from the element and add the coconut milk:
It's ready to serve!
I like to eat it with a tomato salad on the side, but you might think it's tomato overkill...
Bom apetite!
