A Pleasingly Painful Tradition
Every year, we make an annual trip to Cape May over Memorial Day with my wife’s family. One of our favorite traditions is to visit Exit Zero for some fiery curry.
The first time we went there it was Exit Zero Cookhouse and it was only a curry-focused restaurant. Most of the dishes were an approachable 1-3 peppers in heat level. At the bottom of the list sporting 5 peppers was The Kraken squid ink curry. We had to order it.
As Craig LaBan of the Philadelphia Inquirer described it as:
…a truly odd but defyingly great shrimp curry that’s jet black from squid ink, boozy with Kraken rum, and blazing with a habanero-cayenne heat rounded out by a fruity dose of pineapple.
At Jersey Shore: Great chops, seafood, and surprising spice
It lived up to the hype and was a struggle to finish. Immediately, The Kraken became punishment for any competitive event on vacation.
Mini-golf loser? Kraken!
The following year, Exit Zero Cookhouse closed for renovations. The following year Exit Zero Filling Station opened. A unique hybrid of restaurant, gas station, and publisher of a local paper. What? Your town doesn’t have one of those?
They still had The Kraken, but now you could order Kraken Wings!
Unfortunately, with the COVID-craze, we’re unable to make the trip this year. But, that won’t stop us from having the The Kraken.
We’ll have to make it for ourselves.
gathering INGREDIENTS
I have no Kraken Curry available for me to compare. LaBan captured the key ingredients from the menu well. The Exit Zero menu contains one more clue:
Here at Exit Zero, we don’t try to emulate classic Indian dishes — all of our curries contain coconut milk, usually only found in southern Indian dishes, as well as Thailand cuisine.
The Kraken: Paradise shrimp and chicken in a black squid ink sauce, spiced with cayenne, red curry and habaneros, mixed with a shot of Kraken rum and pineapple. It WILL lead to scalp and under-eye sweats.
Exit Zero Filling Station Menu
While I don’t have habaneros, I do have jalapeños. For extra fun I’m going to take it up a notch (or 10) with Flatiron Pepper Company’s “I Can’t Feel My Face” pepper flakes. This blend features Habanero, Ghost, and Moruga Scorpion peppers with the world’s hottest: the Carolina Reaper.
May The Kraken bring those who try it to their knees!
THE KRAKEN CURRY RECIPE
Ingredients
- 1 can coconut milk (13.5 oz / 400 ml)
- 1 can red curry paste (4 oz / 116 g)
- 5 jalapeño peppers or 3 habanero peppers
- 1 cup fresh pineapple
- 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper powder
- 2 teaspoons lemongrass paste
- 3 tablespoons spiced rum
- 4 tablespoons lemon juice
- Squid ink, cuttlefish ink (or black food dye)
- 2 tablespoons pepper flakes (I’ll be using I Can’t Feel My Face from Flatiron Pepper Co.)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Roast your jalapeños or habaneros. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Remove the tops of the peppers and then brush them with oil and sprinkle on salt. Roast for 5-7 minutes per side on the top rack until they get some roast marks.
- Bonus Points: Steam your peppers. This is not important, but keeps consistency of the curry really nice. To remove the skins, place your roasted peppers into into a resealable bag or cover with a bowl and create a tight seal for 15-20 minutes. The steam from the peppers should loosen their skins and make them easy to peel off.
- Puree your peppers. Place your peppers into blender and puree.
- Puree your pineapple. Cut pineapple ~1 cup of small chunks, place in blender, and puree. Snack on the rest while cooking curry sauce!
- Bring sauce base to boil. Mix curry paste, coconut milk, and cayenne in a large sauce pan, wok, etc. until it reaches a boil. Reduce to simmer.
- Spice up your curry! Add your pureed jalapeño and pineapple, lemongrass, lemon juice, rum, and pepper flakes. Continue to simmer until the curry has reduced to desired thickness. Since I’m using on wings, I want it on the thicker side.
- Make it black. I unfortunately do not have squid ink so I’ll be using black food coloring a little bit at a time until I get my desired color. While I can’t speak to how much ink to use…use your best judgement? Too much will give the curry too much of a metal flavor.
- Salt to taste. This should yield ~2 cups of curry sauce.
- UNLEASH THE KRAKEN! Serve with calamari and shrimp, on chicken wings, or with vegetables over rice.
Next Time
The next time I attempt the Kraken, I will roast habaneros and have squid ink to color the curry. I’ll update this post with my thoughts.
Have you had The Kraken at Exit Zero? Did you try my recreation? What would you change? Leave your thoughts in the comments.