(This is another of my very favorite dishes!)

¼ c. salted butter
½ cup minced white onion
dash each of pepper and cayenne
1 bay leaf, crumbled
pinch of powdered thyme (or crushed dry leaf)
1 ½ T curry powder, more or less-your call*
1 ½ T flour
1 ¾ c. fish stock (or Minors shrimp base**)
2 whole cloves
2 c. boiled shrimp, peeled and deveined

Melt butter in sauce pan and sauté onion till golden. Add pepper, cayenne, bay leaf, thyme, curry and flour and blend. Whisk frequently as you cook it for 10 minutes. Blend in the fish stock, remove from heat and puree in a blender.

Return to heat and add the allspice and shrimp. Cook for 5 min. more. Remove the cloves. Serve over rice, with chutney if desired. (I like to use white Basmati, or domestic Kasmati rice.)

Serves 2-3, maybe four if light eaters or a several course meal.

* If you have not discovered Penzey’s spices, you should. They are available on line from penzeys.com. They add a new dimension to cooking, especially the curry and various meat-rubs. There is a huge variety of curry choices and they are as near fresh as you can get, unless you prepare your own—which is a pain i.t.a. (If your experience with curry is that off the shelf at the grocery store, be prepared to be delighted. If you always prepare your own, G-d bless you. You are a true gourmet.)

** If you have not discovered Minor’s restaurant bases you should. They are available on line from soupbase.com. I use them all of the time. There is a huge variety, and they embellish cooking immensely.

Recently Publix--and I presume other chains--are selling many such bases in small glass jars—which is more convenient than soupbase.com, though more expensive.

P.S. don’t buy large quantities unless you use large quantities. You defeat, totally, the concept of “near fresh” herbs and/or spices, and especially curry which was the reason you go to Penzey’s in the first place!