A while ago I started to cook very often with coconut milk as an alternative to cooking cream. I've been using it for soups, curries, and even desserts, until I decided it might be a fun idea to try it for pasta as well, although it seemed a little out of place. But by adding ingredients that usually go well with it, such as shrimps, I realized there is nothing that can go wrong. So I just threw in the pan some shrimps, spinach and coconut milk and the end result was amazing. Instead of regular pasta I used tortellini filled with cheese because this is what I had around the house. But this recipe is so flavorful that it will also turn out great with plain pasta. So with this post I hope to inspire all of you to use coconut milk more often in your recipes.
Ingredients (for 2 portions):
- 200 ml coconut milk
- 200 g spinach
- 200 g shrimps
- half a big onion
- 1 garlic clove
- 200 g dry tortellini
- salt
- pepper
- garlic powder
- chili flakes
- nutmeg
- 100 ml white wine
- juice from 1/4 lemon
- olive oil
First I started with marinating the shrimps a couple of hours before cooking. To do this I added 2 Tbsp. of olive oil, lemon juice, chilly flakes, 1 tsp. garlic powder, salt and pepper over the shrimps and made sure they are evenly coated. Important thing to keep in mind is to take the shrimps out of the fridge on time, so they can reach room temperature by the time you are cooking them.
Then I boiled some water and cooked the tortellini according to the packaging instructions. In the meantime I chopped the onion and garlic clove and roasted them on medium heat in 1 Tbsp. of olive oil until golden, and afterwards I added the wine and reduced. I continued by adding the coconut milk (if you find the coconut milk too heavy or too intense in flavor, you can replace some of it with pasta water, as it will make the sauce lighter, but with the same creamy consistency), followed by the shrimps and spinach. I cooked for another 2-3 minutes until the sauce reduced and the shrimps got nice and pink (shrimps need very little time to cook). I turned off the heat, added the tortellini and as final touch I seasoned with some salt, pepper, and nutmeg.
Enjoy! :)
