Shrimpday?

OK, OK, I know Fridays are supposed to be for the crabs. But while I was reading up on methyl farnesoate research in shrimp, I stumbled upon the common name of this species:

Banana Shrimp

Fenneropenaeus merguiensis

This shrimp is bananas!

B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

Can you believe it!?! Banana + Shrimp! Two delicious things come together for one awesome animal! I read about them in a paper (Kuballa et al., 2007) looking at different isoforms of farnesoic acid O-methyl transferare (FaMeT), which may regulate methyl farnesoate synthesis (there are multiple forms of FaMeT! Go science!).

note: his spoon's NOT too big!

Banana shrimp (or prawns. You pick.) occur naturally off Australia, some South Pacific islands, along southeast Asia, India, and Pakistan (see a map here). They are also used for aquaculture, and, as these things tend to happen, have been found "invading" certain regions like the Mediterranean. (Oh, farm-raised shrimp. *sigh*) The wild ones aren't always a safe bet either, for human consumption that is, as some have had heavy metals in their tissues (think mercury, copper, and lead), and while some levels have been within safe limits for people, other have not! Yikes!

banana shrimp go postal!

On that appetizing note, I can't talk about banana shrimp without sharing a banana + shrimp recipe. Truth: I haven't tried this yet. I don't eat much shrimp because of how unsustainable a lot of shrimp fisheries are, but if you check with Blue Ocean Institute's seafood guide, it has a few shrimp fisheries that are A-OK!

Shrimp and Banana Curry

(from About.com)

Ingredients
curry sauce:
6 tbsp butter
6 tbsp flour
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2 1/2 cups chicken broth

the rest:
4 firm bananas, peeled
1 tbsp + 2 tsp butter, melted
1 1/2 lbs shrimp, shelled, cleaned, and cooked

Directions
1. For the sauce, melt the 6 tbsp of butter in a medium saucepan. Add the flour, curry powder, salt, and pepper and stir until smooth. Add chicken broth slowly and stir continuously until the sauce has thickened but remains smooth.

2. Preheat the oven to 375 F.

3. Place the bananas in a baking dish and brush with the melted butter. Pour half of the curry sauce over the bananas and bake for 15-18 minutes.

4. Add the cooked shrimp to the saucepan with the remaining sauce and heat through.

5. Serve the curried shrimp and bananas on a bed of rice (might I suggest cooked in coconut milk instead of water??), and enjoy! [serves 4]

Let me know how it turns out if you try this banana-shrimp recipe!