Camarao de Coco- With love from Mozambique

Last night, I made one of the most unforgettable meal that makes the heart smile simply because it was delicious and easy to make. I made the Mozambique Camarao de Coco (Coconut shrimp over jasmine rice). The idea of mixing coconut milk with shrimps was something that I thought was reserved only for Thai meals. Hence, I was truly surprised that it's a common recipe among people in Mozambique, a southeastern African country once colonized by the Portuguese. The recipe was adapted from The African Cookbook and I used the following ingredients:

2-3 lbs shrimp
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 garlic cloves cut into tiny pieces
1 chili pepper cut into tiny pieces
1 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp salt
2 tsp cumin
1 large tomato chopped
1 cup coconut milk

2-3 sprigs of parsley
1 bunch of green onion (optional).

I cleaned and removed the shells from the shrimp. I added some garlic, salt, cumin, and pepper to the shrimp and let it stand for about 10 minutes. In a large skillet, I added a little bit of oil and onion so as to cook the shrimp. Once the shrimp had a rich golden pink color, I removed them from the pan. In the same pan, I sauteed the remaining garlic, as well as onions, parsley, tomatoes, green onions, salt, cayenne pepper, stirring constantly to avoid burning. I reduced the heat to low and then added the shrimp to the pan as well as the coconut milk. I let the meal simmer for about 5 minutes. My version of Camarao de Coco was served over jasmine rice.