My family used to joke there were only 3 things I actually liked: mozzarella cheese, fried shrimp and pop-tarts.

I’m sure I could conjure an awesome fried shrimp and cheese over pop tarts dish, but since my taste buds have expanded so much, I now know as many ways to cook shrimp as I do chicken and pasta.

My love affair with shrimp began accidentally. My mother, who tried to pass off every food as chicken, served fried shrimp one night. Anything fried was a hit at my house – still is – and I was happy to try the suspiciously shaped fried chicken strips.

I declared it the best chicken I’d ever eaten. And once I discovered it was shrimp, I was giddy. Now I liked something that was known as seafood. I felt like I finally liked something good for me, and was on my way to being on that elite list of healthy eaters.

Of course I learned as an adult that shrimp didn’t count, was barely considered seafood, was loaded with cholesterol and had no heart-healthy omegas. Figures.

But I love it all the same, and looked up its healthful benefits. It’s low fat, low calorie and high in protein. It’s also an excellent source of selenium and vitamins D and B12. And it’s delicious, cooks in minutes and is marvelous just boiled and chilled.

For about 2 years I stopped eating shrimp because I had an unfortunate experience in a sushi-type restaurant. Everyone sits before a pot of boiling water and you get your raw choices, and boil them yourself. Well. Raw shrimp come with heads and eyes – big eyes. And when you chop its little head off to cook it? Blood.

I didn’t eat anything that night. And the memory of the bloody shrimp head … I still shudder.

But I got over it. Life without shrimp was simply too hard.

Luckily, it’s easy to buy nice, neat headless shrimp at any supermarket.

Shrimp curry over rice

1 1/2 cups white rice

2 teaspoons curry powder

One 13.5-ounce can coconut milk

1 pound of large fresh shrimp, shelled, cleaned and deveined

2 teaspoons five-spice powder

In a medium saucepan, bring 3 1/4 cups salted water to a boil. Add the rice, bring to a simmer, cover and cook for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat, stir in the curry powder and cook for 1 minute. Add the coconut milk and cook until reduced by half, about 7 minutes.

Toss together the shrimp, five-spice powder and 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper. In a large frying pan, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Increase the heat to high and stir-fry the shrimp until just cooked through, about 5 minutes. Stir in the coconut curry sauce. Serve over the rice.

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