Shrimp Sauce! Yum!

Crevette Sauce: The Recipie from Heaven.

Written (and eaten) on 10/3/2014

Before I left for Madagascar many people asked me a similar question, "What will you be eating there?"

Not have any idea, but knowing rice was the staple food, I replied with, "Rice."

Four months and endless spoonfuls of rice later, I can tell everyone that I was correct. Rice is the staple food here in Madagascar. It is eaten as the main dish for breakfast, lunch and dinner with a side dish ("loka in Standard Malagasy, but "rue" here in Mahanoro). I am fairly certain I have already eaten more rice here than I have ever in my entire life.

There is a saying here, "Tsy vary, tsy voky" which means, "No rice, not full." I am constantly made fun of for my small portions of rice and I astound my friends when I cook meals without rice. The other day I ate lunch at my friends and we had a spaghetti dish called a compose (spaghetti with green beans and carrots, mash potatoes, mayonnaise, and an assortment of meats). When the meal was over and I was sufficiently full, they went outside the kitchen and brought back a bowl of rice to complete the meal.

That being said, I am writing this blog for a reason: To share the amazing recpie I made today (that included rice) with the world.

I was taught how to de-head and de-skin (otherwise known as "clean") shrimp the other day by a friend and was determined to create my own delicious meal with shrimp in the near future. I was looking through the cookbook that PCVs had made and given to the trainees, entitled Mampalicous (which is a play on "to make delicious." All verbs in Malagasy start with the letter "m". If you want to make a verb reflexive - you are doing the verb to something or someone) you add "amp." My friends are always confused when they see it because it means nothing in Malagasy.)

I saw this recipie, commenced salivation, and decided I would make it today. It was with-out-a-doubt the best meal I have made myself here in Mahanoro.

Okay, okay. Here it is.

(My edits are in bold. I have a hard time following recpies ver batum. Mostly because I usually make mistakes or forget to buy an ingredient. Also because I am only cooking for one person a lot of the time and not for a small family. What I made serves two people..or one person for two meals if you save the leftovers for supper).

Crevette Sauce (Natalie Kruse, Ifarantsa)

Ingredients:

6-10 small tomatoes (I used 4. Not for any real reason except that I only bought four at the market.

2 small onions, chopped (or about 1/2 a big onion)

2 small green peppers, chopped (or one big green pepper)

1 small bunch green onions, chopped

Salt, pepper and curry to taste (I added a little bit of cayenne because I wanted my sauce to be a little spicy)

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbs sugar (I just put some sugar in. I have no idea how much)

2 Tbs oil (again, I just eye-balled it)

1/2 can tomato paste (I used a whole can which is about 2-1/2 Tbs tomato paste)

1/2 kilo shrimp (I used about 15 shrimp, I am assuming the more shrimp you use, the more people you can feed)

Steps:

1. Clean the shrimp and set aside. Start boiling water.

2. Blanch the tomatoes (This is why you started boiling the water). Slip of the skin. cut into chunks and set aside.

3. Saute garlic, green peppers and onions in oil until translucent. (I misread this and put all the onions in but save the green onions for later).

4. Add tomatoes, sugar and a little bit of water. Cook for 10 minutes.

***this is where you should start cooking your rice***

5. Add shrimp and a little more water. Cook for 8 minutes (I didn't add more water because I felt I added too much water at step 4.)

6. Add spices, tomato paste, and enough water to achieve desired consistency.

7. After a few minutes, ADD THE CHOPPED ONIONS and let cook for another 5 minutes. (..ops...)

8. Serve over rice! You could also use pasta. I wanted to use pasta but there wasn't any at the market today. Also, I bought bread to sop up all the sauce because I didn't want to waste ANY of it.

9. Maztoa! (Enjoy!)