Vanilla flavored shrimp

Yes, you read the title right.

Barabara's Spice is Right II challenge, was really interesting I put on my thinking cap, which I use very rarely.

I very much wanted to participate in Indira's JFI:Mangoes, but I was stupid. I thought I had to create the recipe on May 1st itself. And May 1st was such a bad day for me, if I got mangoes that day, I would have thrown at someone, instead of cooking with it.

So, this challenge I couldn’t just let it go. C'mon I said and I started to think of a spice. Yes! I hit on vanilla. I had some beans left from my last India trip.I am really hesitant to make a fool of myself and the last thing I like is to experiment with ingredients or 'create' recipes, since my past experiences haunt me still.

Vanilla is not native to Kerala. But it is now widely cultivated in Kerala for the past 15 or so years and it grows well in Kerala's climate. When Madagascar, the original world of Vanilla, flooded, Vanilla made many Malayalees instant millionaires.

It was pricier than Gold, and young men started to advertise in matrimonial columns as "Looking for bride, age 20-24, fair, brought up in a vanilla farm"(hehehe. Just kidding!)

Anyway I thought no one can even think of make something savory with vanilla. Well I was wrong as always. Just like I thought cinnamon can never be used as a sweet spice. I had to just google vanilla savory recipe and though not a lot, there were few I could find.

This recipe asked for king fish, I didn’t want to destroy an expensive king fish steak. I got shrimp for 5$.

And with shrimp I knew I couldn’t go wrong. If it doesn’t work, I know I can convert the shrimp to something else.So, here is the recipe I 'created'.2.5 cups of shrimp shelled, deveined and cleaned

Crushed dry red chilies - 8 dried red chilies or use as you prefer it (Don’t grind to a fine powder, just crush them in a coffee grinder)

Garlic pods diced thin - 4 tsp
Shallots diced thin - 4 tsp
Ginger diced thin - 1 tsp
Vanilla beans - 1 cut into pieces (Or use vanilla flavor – 1 tsp)
Balsamic Vinegar - 1/4 cup with 1/2 cup water
Tomatoes - 3 small diced
Heat 3 tsp olive oil, sauté garlic + ginger and shallot in that order.

Add tomatoes and vinegar and water. Cook the tomatoes. When tomatoes are cooked, add crushed chili and vanilla beans or flavor. Add shrimp and mix everything. Add salt.

Cover and cook until it boils and then open cover and let the vinegar water evaporate completely. This is a dry dish. Let everything get coated nicely on the shrimps.The thing is, the flavor of vanilla is so overpowering, the typical ginger garlic taste everything gets absorbed by the flavor of this vanilla, though I couldn’t find much taste difference.

It turned out real good. Hope you could see my delightful glee!This is an excellent appetizer or side dish. Serve with wine or some carbonated drink.Since I added a good amount of chili, it tasted hot, a little sweet and a little sour. The combination of balsamic vinegar and vanilla makes the aroma of vanilla a savory kind. (I think it is similar to cinnamon, how the aroma changes with sugar.)

The best part of the dish is the heavenly aroma which makes your husband get up from the couch and visit the kitchen (a rare thing!).