Skillet Coconut Curry Shrimp Bake

Wild rice is simmered with vegetables, spices, and coconut milk before adding in shrimp and tossing it all in the oven together. Put this to your repetoire of exotic one pot wonders!

Shrimp Baked in Green Curry Coconut Rice | danicaliforniacooks.com I envisioned this recipe before I went to bed one night and leaped out of bed to write it down before I forgot it. I am the ultimate (read: scary) list person. I keep lists EVERYWHERE. On my computer, on my phone, in my notebook, on random post-it notes around my room, in my work notebook, in my Google drive, sent to me in e-mails…yikes, just listing those out doesn’t just read scary it IS scary. My dad and I have had long conversations about how we have several “priorities” of lists as well. The list goes on and on.

Shrimp Baked in Green Curry Coconut Rice | danicaliforniacooks.com Anyways, this recipe was certainly something worth writing down on a list somewhere, and I’m glad I did in my sleepy state. While it’s a bit time-intensive, this recipe only requires one-pot and in the end, you have a warming, healthy, and flavorful dish with plenty of leftovers. The flavors are exotic but nothing overwhelming, and is a great Sunday night meal with a salad on the side.

Shrimp Baked in Green Curry Coconut Rice | danicaliforniacooks.com The first step is to cook the wild rice. This requires a risotto-level style of cooking, which is why the recipe is a tad time consuming. Cook your onions, garlic, and ginger and then add the uncooked wild rice. Simmer in the coconut milk and green curry paste until the rice has soaked it up. You’ll then add a cup of warm water at a time, and let it come to a boil and then turn the heat off, to allow the rice to absorb. Every time the water gets absorbed, add in another cup until the rice is cooked. And do plenty of stirring. This takes about 30 minutes, I’d say. Turn on some music, put on a cute apron, and enjoy being in your kitchen! Shrimp Baked in Green Curry Coconut Rice | danicaliforniacooks.com Once the rice is almost fully cooked, stir in the peas and pepper. Take your shrimp and snuggle (yes, snuggle) it into the rice. Pop it into your oven at 375 degrees F for about 20 minutes, or until the shrimp is fully cooked through. And then dinner is served! The risotto style way of cooking the rice provides a creamy texture, and the whole dish is exotic and flavorful. We enjoyed the leftovers for many nights.

Shrimp Baked in Green Curry Coconut Rice | danicaliforniacooks.com

Skillet Coconut Curry Shrimp Bake
 
Cook time
Total time
 
Wild rice is simmered with vegetables, spices, and coconut milk before adding in shrimp and tossing it all in the oven together. Put this to your repetoire of exotic one pot wonders!
Author:
Serves: 6 servings
Ingredients
  • 1 cup wild rice, uncooked
  • ½ onion, diced
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 1-inch knob ginger, grated
  • 1 can coconut milk
  • 3 tbsp green curry paste
  • ½ cup peas
  • ½ red pepper, diced
  • 1½ dozen shrimp
  • Olive oil
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Warm water on the side
  • Juice of 1 lemon
Instructions
  1. In a large cast iron skillet, cook the onions, garlic and ginger in a little olive olive
  2. While that is cooking, in a plastic bag, mix your uncooked shrimp with 2 tbsp of olive oil and a little salt and pepper, and place in the fridge to marinate
  3. Once translucent, add the wild rice, coconut milk, and green curry paste. Stir well to distribute the curry
  4. Turn the stove on high to allow the coconut milk to boil, and once boiling is met, turn on low to simmer
  5. Stir frequently until all of the coconut milk has been absorbed
  6. Once absorbed, add in a cup of warm water and repeat the boiling/simmer process above until all water is absorbed again. Repeat until rice is almost fully cooked through. This will probably take a half hour
  7. Once rice is almost cooked, stir in the peas and pepper
  8. Turn your oven on to 375 degrees F
  9. Take your shrimp and nestle it into the rice dish
  10. Put the skillet in the oven and bake for 20 mins. The shrimp should be pink and cooked through
  11. Stir in lemon juice and serve!


If you like this, you’ll love: Healthier Red Beans and Rice

Healthier Red Beans and Rice | danicaliforniacooks.com

Healthier Red Beans and Rice

Using brown rice, lots of veggies, and chicken andouille sausage turns this flavorful comfort classic into something you can eat any night of the week!

Healthier Red Beans and Rice | danicaliforniacooks.com My first year out of college working for my consulting firm, I traveled to New Orleans from Washington, DC every week. It was a WILD ride full of jam-packed work weeks and wayyy too much Creole fare - I’ve discussed my (very unsurprising) weight gain here before. It was one of those projects where everyone went out to dinner with each other every night, and we tried pretty much every restaurant in the Big Easy. I got so tired of the ambiguous “gulf fish” or “red fish” on the menu, and I honestly started to cringe at the word po’ boy or jamabalaya or beignets. (I know, sounds impossible, right?)

Healthier Red Beans and Rice | danicaliforniacooks.com For months after leaving the project, I couldn’t eat any New Orleans-inspired food! But it’s been two years now since then, and I’m gingerly incorporating those flavors back into my diet. I decided to start with a healthier version of the classic red beans and rice. I had been envisioning a recipe like this for some time, and it was one of those which I knew was going to be a hit even before I tasted it. It smelled so good and the ingredients are pretty much fool-proof. It’s nothing fancy.

Healthier Red Beans and Rice | danicaliforniacooks.com This dish is made in one pan only, and is chock full of things that are good for you. Instead of the traditional white rice, I used brown! Instead of fatty pork andouille sausage and pork fat, I used chicken andouille sausage and olive oil. And I added in a ton of veggies - brightly colored peppers and onions and celery. Simmer all of that together in Cajun seasoning and you have yourself a super easy meal, and great leftovers too.

Healthier Red Beans and Rice | danicaliforniacooks.com My one caution with this recipe? You’re going to want to make a lot of this because it goes FAST at the dinner table. I was all expecting to have leftovers and that was a no-go. If you don’t have a big enough pan to mix the rice with the vegetables and red beans and sausage to let everything cook together, you can always spoon the rice onto the plate first and then cover with the good stuff. The downside there is that the rice can’t soak up all of the Cajun seasonings, but the flavors are still there!

Healthier Red Beans and Rice | danicaliforniacooks.com There you have it! Weeknight cooking at its finest. Healthy, comforting, and makes great leftovers. What more could you want?

Healthier Red Beans and Rice
 
Using brown rice, lots of veggies, and chicken andouille sausage turns this flavorful comfort classic into something you can eat any night of the week!
Author:
Serves: 6-8 servings
Ingredients
  • 1 package andouille chicken sausage (I used Trader Joe's brand), sliced into rounds
  • 1 can red kidney bean, drained and rinsed
  • 1 green pepper, chopped
  • 1 red pepper, chopped
  • ¾ cup chopped celery
  • 1 small white onion, diced
  • ¾ cup tomato paste
  • 1 tbsp Cajun seasoning
  • 1 cup chicken broth
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 1½ cup cooked brown rice
  • Optional: red pepper flakes, parsley for garnish
Instructions
  1. In a large pan, cook sausage in the olive oil until lightly browned
  2. Add all vegetables, beans, tomato paste, and Cajun seasoning
  3. Add stock and bring to a boil
  4. Cover the pan and reduce heat to simmer for about 10 minutes
  5. Uncover and simmer for about 5 more minutes, until the mixture has thickened
  6. Stir in brown rice so absorb rest of sauce
  7. Serve and enjoy!

Sunday Set Ups: One Pot No-Bean Vegetable and Beef Chili

Stew vegetables and ground beef with chili and espresso for a hearty, spicy one pot meal that tastes better the next day. It’s paleo-friendly, so its free of dairy, gluten, and legumes!

No-Bean Vegetable and Beef Chili | danicaliforniacooks.com I used to say that my last meal before I died would be chili with cornbread and lemonade. My parents were like “did you not grow up in the South?” Nowadays, that “last meal ever” list has expanded to include carrot cake, molten chocolate lava cake, tuna wraps, sushi, cheese and crackers, caesar salad, fruit, toast with PB, sweet potato fries, wine, dried dates and figs, oatmeal cookies, etc. It’ll be a feast…you’re all invited.

Since following something close to the Whole30 recently, I’ve been gravitating towards super simple but deeply flavorful foods. I experimented a bit with adding ground espresso and chili powder to grass-fed ground beef and chopped up rainbow bell peppers, and the result was something so satisfying. I couldn’t wait to share with you all! The serving options for this recipe are endless, which is why it’s a great meal to make in bulk on Sunday to eat on Monday. And Tuesday. And Wednesday.
No-Bean Vegetable and Beef Chili | danicaliforniacooks.com When you’re trying to clean up your diet in general, people worry that they are going to lose out on all of the flavor and enjoyment of food. And that cooking for others will always seem like they are trying to push “healthy” on them. My taste testers especially have had to sample their fare share of healthified baked goods (some good, some cardboard-y) and quinoa stuffed vegetables. The best part about this chili was when I served it to others, no one thought that it was part of any “healthy eating shtick”. They just thought it was delicious, and we turned this 4-6 serving meal into 3.

No-Bean Vegetable and Beef Chili | danicaliforniacooks.com Side note - this can be done in a crockpot. But sometimes I truly enjoy the process of cooking everything piece by piece, and that’s what I decided to do on the rainy Saturday that I put together this chili. (Yes I did say RAIN, we had RAIN here in Los Angeles! Give us some more, rain spirits!) Anyways, one way to simplify your chili making is to use canned and diced fire-roasted tomatoes. There are several brands that make these, and they add wonderful flavor to your chili without YOU having to do much else. The way this chili works is easy. Brown the meat with the onions, skim off the fat, and then add in everything else. Let sit for however many hours on low heat. Serve with your toppings of choice. Repeat the next day, and the next, and the next.

chilii There are a ton of options for how to serve this chili, which is why I love making a big batch on the weekends. You can make a burrito bowl out of it with quinoa or brown rice on the bottom. You can mix in tons of fresh spinach. You can use it for taco or quesadilla fillings. Or you can do it Dani California Cooks childhood-last-meal-ever-style, with some cornbread and a glass of lemonade. I personally like mine all doctored up with cilantro, avocado, jalapenos, and red onions.

No-Bean Vegetable and Beef Chili | danicaliforniacooks.com I could happily eat meals like this all week. And now that I made this, I will!

One Pot No-Bean Vegetable and Beef Chili
 
This hearty no-bean chili is full of vegetables and ground beef, and spiced with chili and espresso for depths of flavor! It's low carb, dairy and gluten free. And it takes only one pot to make!
Author:
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 1 lb grass-fed ground beef
  • 3 bell peppers, seeded and roughly chopped
  • ½ white onion, diced
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 2 cans of diced fire-roasted tomatoes
  • 1 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 tbsp ground espresso
  • 2 tbsp chili powder
  • Dash of cayenne
  • Olive oil
  • Salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. In a large pot over medium heat, cook the onions and garlic in a tablespoon or two of olive oil for about 5 minutes.
  2. Add the ground beef to brown, about another 5-7 minutes. Break up the beef into smaller pieces. Skim off the fat
  3. Toss in the chopped bell peppers and cook for several minutes
  4. Add in the tomato paste, diced tomatoes,and spices
  5. Taste and add salt and pepper
  6. Cook for 3-4 hours on low
  7. Serve with toppings of choice! (Jalapenos, red onion, avocado, plain yogurt, cilantro, you name it!)
Notes
Store in your refrigerator all week. It tastes even better the next day!

To cook in a crockpot, add in all ingredients and cook on low for 8-10 hours.Skim off the fat before serving!