” I’m on a seafood diet, when i see food, I eat it.” -Anonymous

Prawn Malai curry- smooth, lightly spiced and full of flavour. The ideal curry in a jiffy, be it for steamed rice, sticky jasmine rice, could be even for something as simple as hot dosas.

All of us at home love our seafood, specially prawns. When I know there’s fresh prawns available, depending on the size, it’s either a prawn biriyani, a golden fried prawns or a typical Kerala prawn olathu with coconut pieces. But, after coming across this recipe, it’s my first choice with fresh succulent prawns. The cooking of prawns is so tricky. To retain the softness of the prawns, cooking time should not be more than a couple of minutes ( 3-4 minutes on a high flame ) .

Sharing with you a beautiful seafood curry recipe- you could substitute the prawns with squid or even crab meat.

Ingredients:

• Prawns- 1/2kg ( cleaned and deveined)
• Onion -1 ( chopped)
• Slit green chillies 3-4
• Ginger garlic paste -1 tsp
• Turmeric powder-2 tsp
• Chilli powder 2 tsp
• Garam masala -1 tsp
• Cummin powder-1 tsp
• Ground coconut – 3tsp
• Yoghurt -3 tbsp
• Dried red chillies– 2-3
• Fresh coconut milk -3/4 cup (thick)
• Sugar-1 tsp
• Ghee-2 tbsp
• Oil-3tbsp
• Salt
• Coriander leaves to garnish

Whole Spices

• Cinnamon -1 inch piece
• Cloves-3-4
• Cardamom seeds -3
• Bayleaf -2

Method:

• Marinate prawns in turmeric powder and salt and keep aside for 15 minutes.
• Lightly sauté the prawns in a tbsp of hot oil and remove. ( Till the prawns turn pink- 1-2 minutes)
• In 2 tbsp of oil, put all the whole spices and fry lightly.
• Add dried red chillies and fry lightly.
• Add the chopped onion and fry till golden brown.
• Add ginger- garlic paste and fry lightly.
• Add all the spice powders and fry lightly.
• Add the beaten yoghurt, ground coconut, and 1/2 cup of water, cover and cook for a couple of minutes on a low flame.
• Turn the flame to high, add sautéed prawns, slit green chillies, sugar, coconut milk and salt to taste.
• Bring to a boil and put off the flame.
• Add ghee and remove.
• Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with Pulao/ parathas.

Chefs tips:

• Prawns should be fresh, deveined and cleaned. Should be consumed on the same day. Frozen prawns tastes different.
• Coconut ground should be as smooth as possible.
• Coconut milk should be of medium thickness. If it’s too thin, the texture of the gravy would be watery and not thick as desired.
• Prawns should be sautéed for a minute or two till they change colour and begin to curl.
• A little bit of lemon grass seasoning just elevates the whole dish. ( along with the spice powders)
• If required, you could remove the bayleaf before serving. It’s optional.
• This curry serves 4 adults.

Till the next post,

Cheers

Rose

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