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Madras Shrimp is one of my favorite ways to cook shrimp. So flavorful, and you don’t even have to sauté the shrimp! It turns out to be a pretty easy dish to convert to a freezer meal, too. What a treat, to come home to a quick and easy freezer meal!

A note about rice: I love the flavor of brown rice. Another advantage is the additional fiber, which helps you feel full longer and is good for your health. Uncle Ben’s is great because it’s parboiled so that the cook time and rice to water ratio are the same as for white rice. The downside is that brown rice generally has more arsenic than white, and Uncle Ben’s is grown in areas that tend to produce rice higher in arsenic. Consumer Reports recommends limiting brown rice to two servings per week for adults, so I’m comfortable with using it occasionally. You can choose to use white rice instead (white basmati from California is among the lowest in arsenic), or even pasta or quinoa. I haven’t tried either of those in my Instant Pot yet. If you do, please let me know how it turns out!

You’ll find a printer-friendly version of the recipe at the bottom of this page.

Ingredients:

2 tsp black peppercorns

1 small onion

1½-inch knob of fresh ginger

2 garlic cloves

1½ Tbsp ground coriander

½ tsp ground turmeric

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp brown mustard seeds

1½ cup fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth

2 Tbsp tomato paste

½ of a lemon

¾ tsp salt

1 pound frozen shrimp (do not thaw)

¾ cup Uncle Ben’s brown rice (or substitute white rice)*

¼ cup chopped cilantro (optional)

Preparation:

1.) Get all your ingredients ready before beginning, because it goes quite quickly. Set each aside within easy reach. Start by crushing the black peppercorns. I like to put them in a zip-top freezer bag to keep them from flying all over the kitchen, then pound with a meat mallet. You can also use a rolling pin or even a can.

2.) Dice the onion for 1 cup. Peel the ginger and mince or grate 1½ Tbsp; mince the garlic. Squeeze 1 tablespoon of juice from the lemon. Measure the coriander and turmeric into a small prep bowl, and measure out the tomato paste and broth.

3.) With the lid off, turn the Instant Pot on in “Sauté” mode, using the “Adjust” button to bring it to the “more” level. Once the display reads “hot,” add the oil and mustard seeds. Let the seeds cook until they stop popping, about 1 – 2 minutes. Use a spatula to scrape the popped seeds back into the bottom of the pan.

4.) Stir in the pepper, onion, ginger, garlic, coriander, and turmeric. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onion begins to soften and become translucent, 3 – 5 minutes.

5.) Stir in the broth, tomato paste, juice, and salt. If you’re cooking this to eat now, skip to Step 8.

6.) If you’re making this as a freezer meal, remove the inner pot, cover it with foil, and let it cool for half an hour. Once cool, pour the sauce into a labeled freezer container, refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, then freeze. Once it’s frozen solid, you can measure the rice into a ziptop freezer bag and pop it into the container on top of the frozen sauce.

7.) When cooking from frozen, set the bag of rice aside and pop the frozen block into the instant pot’s inner pot. Set for “Sauté,” using the adjust button to bring it to “normal” level, and cook until the liquid melts. Press “Keep Warm/Cancel to turn the pot off.

8.) Stir in the rice and let it sit for five minutes. Layer the shrimp, still frozen, on top of the mixture. Put the lid on the pot, lock it in place, and close the steam vent. Set the pot on “Manual” for 5 minutes at high pressure.

9.) While the shrimp cooks, chop some cilantro (optional).

10.) When the time is up, carefully do a quick release before opening the pot. Check the shrimp and rice for doneness. If it’s not quite done, just put the cover back on and let it sit for another 5 minutes. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro to serve.