This is easily one of my favorite first courses for dinner parties, one that I have served repeatedly over the years. Most of the work—and there is very little of it—can be done in advance, and the last-minute stir-frying, which is the ideal way to cook this, takes just a few minutes. If you wish to do the entire cooking in advance, you may, just remember to reheat the shrimp over a low flame. I have even served this dish with drinks. I just stick a toothpick in each shrimp and hand out napkins! If you cannot find fresh curry leaves, tear up 10 fresh basil leaves and use them instead.

　　

Ingredients

serves 4

　　12 raw jumbo or about 16 medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

　　1/8–1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste

　　Freshly ground black pepper

　　1/4 teaspoon salt

　　1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh hot green chilies

　　2 tablespoons olive, canola, or peanut oil

　　1/2 teaspoon whole brown or yellow mustard seeds

　　1 large clove garlic, finely chopped

　　15 fresh curry leaves

　　5 tablespoons grated tomato (see page 289)

　　

Step 1

Wash the shrimp well. Leave in a strainer for a while and then pat dry. Put in a bowl. Add the cayenne, pepper, salt, and green chilies. Mix well. The shrimp may be covered and refrigerated until needed.

　　

Step 2

Put the oil in a wok, karhai, or frying pan and set over medium-high heat. When hot, put in the mustard seeds. As soon as the mustard seeds begin to pop, a matter of seconds, add the garlic and stir once or twice. Quickly add the shrimp and curry leaves. Stir a few times. Add the grated tomato and stir again a few times. Turn the heat down to medium low and let the shrimp cook gently, stirring as you do so, until they just turn opaque, a matter of 2 or 3 minutes. Serve immediately.

　　Excerpted from At Home with Madhur Jaffrey: Simple, Delectable Dishes from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka by Madhur Jaffrey. Copyright © 2010 by Random House. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.Buy the full book from Amazon.