Durban Curry Shrimp

Durban Curry shrimp is a spicy South African style curry. Made at home from scratch with fresh chillies, tomato, garlic, ginger, curry leaves, lime zest and spices this easy to make whole food curry is hot, fresh and delicious!

Curry has always been one of my greatest food love affairs. Whether it's Thai style like Thai Red Curry Tofu or Indian style, I haven't met a curry I didn't like.

When I travelled to South Africa, I was surprised to learn that curry was such a big deal there and I took every chance I got to eat curry in Durban.  What I really loved about the curry there was that it seemed like it was the best of both worlds - the richness of an Indian curry along with the fresh fragrant citrus notes of South East Asian curries.

This Durban curry shrimp is a recipe that I created with the flavours of South African Curry in mind. You start by making your own homemade curry paste from tomatoes, onions and spices, then you finish the curry off with lime zest and coconut milk before adding the shrimp.  From start to finish this dish took just over half an hour to make

Spicy, fragrant, fresh and flavourful this curry has truly got everything going for it.

There are some ingredients on the list that you might not find at your local supermarket but should be able to find in an Asian or Specialty supermarket.  Aside from the new ingredients it may seem a bit daunting to essentially be making your own curry paste from scratch, but let me tell you this is MUCH easier than it may sound and the flavour that you get from starting with your own fresh ingredients is incomparable to any curry paste you can find at the store.

How to make Durban curry shrimp

Start by making sure that you have all your spices ready and that you have prepped your onions and tomatoes.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat and add the fenugreek, mustard seeds and cumin seeds to the pan.  Toast the seeds in the dry pan for a minute or two before adding the oil, onion, garlic, ginger and curry leaves.

Reduce the heat to medium low and cook the onions until they begin to turn translucent - about 10 minutes - then add the diced tomato, lime zest, coriander, turmeric, and sliced chilli.

Cook the mixture until the tomatoes have completely softened and most of their moisture has been evaporated leaving behind a thick tomatoey paste then add the coconut milk and bring to a boil.

Add the shrimp and cook for 5 minutes or until the shrimp have just turned pink.

Season with sea salt, and lime juice and serve sprinkled with chopped cilantro.

Dietary Information

This recipe for Durban curry shrimp is suitable for the following diets:

• pescatarian
• clean eating and Whole30
• gluten free, dairy free, and allergy friendly
• low carb and keto friendly with served with cauliflower rice (as I did)
• For vegetarian or vegan leave out the shrimp and throw in some cubed tofu instead!

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More Recipes You’ll Love!

If you like this Durban curry shrimp you might want to check out some of our other awesome shrimp recipes:

• Vietnamese shrimp salad
• Bang bang Shrimp Tacos
• Greek shrimp with tomatoes and feta

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Print Recipe

5 from 5 votes

Durban Curry Shrimp

A spicy tomato and coconut milk based South African style shrimp curry

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: South African

Servings: 4

Calories: 422kcal

Author: Courtney

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

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Ingredients:

• 1 Tablespoon avocado oil - (or other cooking oil)
• 1⁄4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
• 3⁄4 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
• 1⁄4 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 4 cloves garlic - chopped
• 1 inch ginger - chopped
• 10 curry leaves - (or lime leaves, or omit)
• 2 onions - chopped
• 1 lime - zest and juice of
• 3 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 4 red chillies - chopped
• 4 tomatoes - chopped
• 1 can coconut milk
• sea salt
• 1 pound shrimp (16-20 count)
• cilantro

Instructions

• Heat a large skillet to medium heat and throw in the cumin, mustard and fenugreek seeds then toast until you can smell them in the air.
• Add the avocado oil to the skillet along with the crushed garlic, chopped ginger, curry leaves and onion.
• Cook for 10-15 minutes or until the onion has cooked and turned transluscent.
• Add the lime zest, coriander, turmeric, sliced chili and the chopped tomatoes.
• Cook down until the tomatoes have completely softened and the mixture resembles a paste.
• Add the coconut milk, mix well and bring to a boil. Add the shrimp and cook for 5 minutes or until the shrimp have just turned pink.
• Season with sea salt, and lime juice and serve sprinkled chopped cilantro,

Notes

** As written this is a VERY spicy curry!  Feel free to half the red chillies used to make it a bit milder, or to REALLY make it mild also remove the seeds from the chillies before using.

Nutrition

Calories: 422kcalCarbohydrates: 21gProtein: 28gFat: 27gSaturated Fat: 20gCholesterol: 286mgSodium: 909mgPotassium: 898mgFiber: 5gSugar: 8gVitamin A: 1559IUVitamin C: 148mgCalcium: 248mgIron: 7mg

* nutritional information is calculated by online tools and may not be 100% accurate.

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