Prawns Curry from Prashanth’s Kitchen

This is a contribution to my blog from my dearest cousin Prashanth (for me pachaanthu). Ever since I told him about my blog, he has been super supportive & being a good cook himself (he’s got a basic training at Jaime Oliver’s cooking school in UK), he decided to offer me a few recipes to put over here. Folks I can definitely vouch for the taste of these dishes, so do give it a shot.

So, here I am a 28 year old guy who is supposed to be chilling out with friends in some beach or bowling alley on a day off (Saturday), but sitting and writing a blog for my Kunji Chechi. Kunji Chechi has been fairly constant in posting pictures of her baking experiments on Facebook. I have always envied people who know to cook and especially bake! I congratulate her for this wonderful blog with all her lovely recipes. The following recipes are dedicated to her! 

Before I begin elaborating on my dishes, let me give you a brief of how I got involved in cooking. I always used to cook. But my cooking was limited to frying sausages (which I love!), burgers etc. Hey! Atleast I do it on my own! I used to occasionally try to make various kinds of chicken curries but they would all end up tasting the sameL. It was during the winter of 2011 that I went to stay with my brother in UK. He is a great cook and he inspired me to join Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food at Leeds. I picked up some basic cooking skills from there. Slowly started testing newer recipes found on YouTube. And that’s how it all began!!

         

Prawns( Chemeen) Curry in Coconut Milk

We malayalis (people from Kerala) have a great affinity towards beef and prawns. Most of our famous dishes are either beef based or prawns based. So here is one such recipe from Mallu land!

Ingredients (For marinating Prawns)

1/2 kg Cleaned Prawns

1 tsp.  Ginger Garlic paste

1 tsp.  Red Chilly powder

1/2 tsp. Turmeric powder

1/2 tsp. Black Pepper powder

Salt to taste

Ingredients (For Gravy)

2 medium Onion (finely chopped)

1 medium Tomato (chopped)

1 tsp. Ginger Garlic paste

1 tsp. Red Chilly powder

1/2 tsp. Turmeric powder

1 cup Grated coconut:

1/2 cup Thick coconut milk

Dry Red chillies: to taste

½ tsp. Pepper powder

Curry leaves: 2 sprigs

1 piece Kudampuli (Gambooge)

1/2 tsp. Mustard seeds

1 tbsp. Coconut oil 

Preparation

Marinate cleaned prawns with the above ingredients and keep it in the fridge for an hour.

Heat coconut oil in a pan. When it is hot, add mustard seeds.

Add the sliced onions and sauté along with dry red chilies and curry leaves.

Simultaneously, roast the grated coconut till it turns light brownish.

Add ginger garlic paste, red chili powder, pepper powders and stir till the aroma comes out. And then add the chopped tomato pieces and sauté.

Transfer the grated coconut and the onion-masalas-tomato mixture into a mixie and add a few coriander seeds and finely grind these ingredients to a paste.

Transfer the paste to the pan and heat.

Add the marinated prawns to the paste and cook covered till prawns are done.

Open and add thick coconut milk and kodampuli and stir gently. Garnish with coriander leaves and cover and cook for another 2 minutes and remove from the heat. 

In a separate pan, add a little coconut oil, mustard seeds, red dry chilli, curry leaves and sauté. Add the above mixture to the curry.

And here is your Chemeen Curry!! Enjoy with plain rice or any kind of bread!