Vietnamese-style Shrimp and Mango Curry

When looking for what to serve my family, my first consideration is what hubby likes to eat, followed closely by B.  Hubby loves spicy food.  My dilemma?  My tummy cannot stomach too much spiciness!  Solution?  Make traditionally spicy dishes a tad less spicy...

This curry was inspired primarily by a dish I recently had the pleasure of eating in an Asian-fusion restaurant.  It was sweet, salty and spicy, but not so spicy that I couldn't enjoy it...

The ingredients...

The stars of the show: shrimps -

and mangoes -

The recipe:

1 tablespoon each canola oil and "lite" butter
a large piece of ginger, sliced thinly and pounded
4 large cloves of garlic, smashed
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
3 stalks lemongrass, trimmed, sliced into 2-inch pieces
2 fresh green finger chillies, sliced diagonally
3 fresh red finger chillies, sliced diagonally
1 tablespoon premium fish sauce
2 tablespoon garam masala (or curry) powder
2 cups coconut milk
juice of 1 large calamansi (or lime)
a large pinch of sea salt or to taste
500 grams shrimps, cleaned and trimmed
2 small tomatoes, diced
small bunch of purple basil
3 to 4 small stalks of wansoy (coriander)

Heat the oil and butter together until butter melts.  Saute the ginger until lightly browned.  Add onions and garlic; stir fry until fragrant.  Add lemongrass, chillies, fish sauce and garam masala powder.  Stir fry a couple of minutes until fragrant.  Stir in the coconut milk and calamansi juice.  Season with salt as preferred.  Simmer for 2 minutes or so before adding the shrimps and tomatoes.  Bring to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally.  Adjust seasoning, if necessary.  Once the shrimps are cooked, toss in the basil leaves and wansoy.  Garnish with a sprig of purple basil.

Hubby's verdict?  Very good, he says!!!  Perfect as rice topping!  (I'm thinking it is good with flat breads too!)

PS - someone suggested to me that to have "more" flavor, the ginger and garlic need to be pounded to bring the juices out.