Iraqi Stewed Shrimp

I created a tasty dish using Baharat and shrimp some time ago.  This dish is not an authentic Iraqi recipe, but it might be if it were done with chunks of fish filets added the last 5-7 minutes of cooking instead of using shrimp.  Being land-locked, Iraq doesn’t have access to shellfish other than down on the small coastline along the Persian Gulf.    I like to call this creation ‘Iraqi gumbo’.  It certainly reminds me of gumbo in appearance, although not much like Louisiana gumbo in flavor.  This shrimp entrée really delivers on flavor.  Hope you’ll try it and do think you’ll like it!  This curry-like dish is quite different from Indian curries.  The flavor of cloves in the Baharat spice, so unique to food in the Arab world, is really quite nice with shrimp.  Guess that’s why it is always in those pouches of shrimp boil spices we buy at the grocery store.  

As written, this recipe is suitable for Induction.  If you have already reached the fruit rung of OWL, this is greatly enhanced served with a side of butter-seared, lengthwise sliced banana halves.  In fact, this banana side dish is outstanding with ALL curry dishes, in my opinion.  For those not on a low-carb diet, this is usually served with basmati rice, but low carbers can have it on steamed cauliflower rice or it is also delicious on my Seared Eggplant slices.    

INGREDIENTS:

2 lb. shrimp, peeled and deveined

4 T. butter, melted (I use unsalted)

4 cloves garlic, minced

4 oz. onion, sliced

3 Roma tomatoes, quartered

¼ c. each parsley and cilantro, chopped

1 tsp. turmeric

Dash each black and cayenne pepper

1½ c. water (or mixture of water and seafood stock if available)

1 T. Iraqi Spice Blend (Baharat):  https://buttoni.wordpress.com/2011/03/30/iraqi-spice-blend/

about ¼ tsp. xanthan gum or guar gum

12 oz. zucchini or Mexican zucchini (calaba squash), cut into 1″ chunks (unpeeled eggplant is a great substitute here)

DIRECTIONS: Peel shrimp and set aside.  Melt butter in large stew pot.  I use a large non-stick oven-proof wok for such dishes.   Add onion and cook over high heat until lightly browned. Add spices and saute 1 minute so the spices release their aroma.  Add parsley, cilantro, tomatoes and water/stock.  If using cubed squash add now, along with  water/stock and stir well.  Once the stew reaches a boil, lower heat and cover.  Simmer about 60 minutes total, when squash should be fully done and the flavors will have blended nicely.  If using eggplant, add about 20 minutes before stew is done cooking so it won’t completely fall apart.  Lightly dust a bit of the xanthan gum over the surface and slowly stir in, allowing the sauce to “set up” between dustings, as you don’t want this to get too thick.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Depending on how you’re serving this dish, as a gumbo/stew, or served atop cauliflower rice or eggplant, I can’t know exactly how many servings you will get from this recipe.  So I’m giving macros as follows:

Entire recipe contains 1978 cals, 65g fat, 83g carbs, 21g fiber, 61g NET CARBS, 249g protein 5547 mg sodium  

Served as stew/gumbo, it should serve 5-6 people with a 1½ c. serving that will contain approximately: 329.67 cals, 10.83g fat, 13.83g carbs, 3.5g fiber, 10.33g NET CARBS, 41.5g protein, 924.5 mg sodium 

Served atop cauli-rice or eggplant, your serving sizes will be more like 1 c. and you’ll probably realistically get 9 servings, I would imagine.  I’ll let you do that math from the “entire recipe” stats above, based on how generous you are with the mixture when dipping up onto each plate.     


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