I had some left over homemade Thai green curry paste and after the success of shrimp ravioli I decided to do some Thai-Italian fusion and make shrimp ravioli with coconut and green curry. The result was phenomenal and something I’ll definitely make again. The combination of flavors works remarkably well.

The filling is very similar to my regular shrimp ravioli, with as the main difference that it contains green curry paste. Together with the reduced shrimp stock this has great depth of flavor. The coconut milk sauce combines very well with the ravioli. The dish had just the right amount of spiciness, and you can of course tune it to your own taste. Here’s what I did…

Ingredients

For about 30 ravioli

For the stuffing

450 grams (1 lb) medium shrimp with heads and shells

2 Tbsp Thai green curry paste

1 egg

100 grams ricotta (preferably homemade)

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

For the pasta

2 eggs

200 grams Italian 00 flour

salt

For the coconut sauce

250 ml (1 cup) coconut milk

1 Tbsp Thai green curry paste

zest of 1 (kaffir) lime

1 Tbsp fish sauce

juice of 1/2 lime

Preparation

Peel the shrimp and refrigerate the shrimp meat. Sauté the heads and shells in a tablespoon of vegetable oil until they are orange/pink on all sides.

Cover with water, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, and simmer for 20 minutes.

Use a ‘chinois’ (pointy metal colander as shown) and a pestle to filter the stock and get as much juice out of the shrimp heads as possible.

Put the shrimp stock in a wide shallow pan. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.

Simmer until reduced to a thick syrup, stirring now and then. Make sure it doesn’t burn! Turn off the heat.

Take the shrimp meat out of the refrigerator and puree it in a food processor. Add the reduced shrimp stock, chili paste, ricotta, and egg.

Process until smooth and homogeneous. Cook a little bit of the filling in a non-stick pan and taste it. Add salt or green curry paste to the filling if needed, remembering that the filling always needs to be slightly more salty than you think.

Once the filling is to your liking, transfer it to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate it to firm up.

Make fresh pasta dough, allow it to rest for at least half an hour, and then roll it out into very thin sheets. Make ravioli with the shrimp filling according to my instructions.

Arrange the ravioli on a floured surface. If you are not going to cook them soon, turn them over after 10 minutes, so the bottom can dry as well and they won’t stick and break.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

To make the sauce, start by taking only the thick white part of the coconut milk that floats on top. (Do not shake the coconut milk before opening the container.)

Heat this coconut cream in a non-stick frying pan until it starts to break, then add the green curry paste and sauté for a minute.

Add the rest of the coconut milk.

Stir to incorporate the coconut milk and cook over medium heat to allow the sauce to thicken.

Season to taste with fish sauce (about a tablespoon)…

…and lime juice (about 1/2 lime).

Add kaffir lime zest as well, reserving some for garnish. Keep the sauce warm over low heat while you cook the ravioli.

Once the water boils, add salt and the ravioli. Cook them for about 2 minutes, then transfer them to the sauce with a slotted spoon.

Once you have transferred all of the ravioli, toss to coat them with the sauce.

Serve at once on preheated plates, garnished with kaffir lime zest.

Wine pairing

This was amazing with a full-bodied dry Riesling from Mosel (Germany). Traditionally such a full-bodied Riesling would be called an Auslese, but nowadays most of the producers only call their wines Auslese if they are sweet. Because of the high initial sugar content of the grapes, such a dry Auslese is creamy (which goes well with the coconut milk) while it still has great acidity to go with the lime and strength to go with the curry paste. Click here to learn about understanding German wine labels.

Flashback

Tajarin al Sugo di Coniglio is a dish from the Piemonte region, where narrow tagliatelle (taglierini) are called tajarin in the local dialect. It really brings out the delicate flavor of the rabbit, which pairs very well with the delicate pasta.