Curried Shrimp and Roasted Green Beans

In a merciful show of the gods' power, dragon boat was cancelled tonight. It's been a hectic week and although I was looking forward to it, I love having the night off. Rather than catching some of the Junos' hullabaloo downtown with some coworkers I headed home to cook, clean, file my taxes, and relax for the evening.

Tonight, in a landmark move, I created my own recipe. I had some green beans looking for a tasty end to their lives and I was looking to pay homage to my beloved spicy green bean dishes in Thai and other Asian cuisines. I know I'm not a spicy-foods girl per se, but I like the flavours and love green beans. Sure, I took inspiration from my favourite lover of sandwiches but once I realized that I wanted use what I have on hand at home and substitute the tofu for shrimp, ginger for more garlic, Thai curry for Indian, and add more veggies, I realized I had to go it alone. My training wheels are off, and here I go!

Curried Shrimp and Green Beans

1/2 lb shrimp ( I used frozen easy peel shrimp, use anything, just be sure it's thawed and uncooked before you add it in)
1lb green beans, ends trimmed (if you like it like that, I do)
1 small red pepper, diced
1 plum tomato, diced - seeds removed
1/2 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 Tbsp olive oil
1 heaping Tbsp curry paste (I use Patak's mild)
red pepper/chili flakes to taste (I used about 2 tsp, but I'm a heat-wimp)
1/2 can coconut milk
1 c uncooked brown rice (then cooked to instructions on box/bag/memory)
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Put rice on, cook to specifications.

Coat beans in 1-2 tablespoons oil, add 2 cloves of garlic minced, put in 375 oven for 10-20 minutes until wrinkly. (Watch that the garlic on the beans doesn't burn. Anything on the pan did, but the bean garlic was safe. You could also leave the cloves peeled and whole for roasted garlic deliciousness.)
As the beans are finishing up their heat bath, Heat oil in a pan over medium-high heat, add onions, the rest of the garlic and cook for a few minutes. Add curry paste, red chili flakes, and coconut milk, stir until paste is well distributed. Add tomatoes and red pepper, let simmer until veggies get softer. Add green beans and mix well. Let it simmer so the coconut milk can reduce further - about 10 minutes, add shrimp, mix well, and cook until shrimp is pink and heated through. Remove from heat and serve over rice.
Made 3-4 servings, it's a little rice heavy, so keep the rice separate to use any extra for future dinners. This will make a lovely lunch tomorrow, but wouldn't freeze well.

I love Curry Paste. Enjoy!