Sharing another prawn curry recipe from one of my favourite coastal cuisines in India - Goa.
Beaches, sunsets, ocean breeze, shacks lining up the seashore, foreigners roaming around and some great food paired with an amazing trance music scene.
I never miss out on the seafood when I'm in Goa - its all so fresh and juicy, so different from the frozen stuff we get here in the Uru.
So, yes I've been doing a lot of cooking during this lockdown. One of the challenges that I have taken onto myself is to try out a new recipe every alternate day, either from my existing cookbook collection or from my mother's cooking repertoire which has tons of delicious home-cooked meals.
I'm a big fan of curries and gravies which have a base of freshly ground spices. Maybe it's the South Indian roots in me that takes me back to dishes loaded with spices. And being a Maharashtrian helps me cope with some amazing heat as well.
Coming back to this recipe - make sure you use small/ medium size prawns, they taste best in curries and lend a nice ocean sweetness as well to the overall dish. Also, do the frying of onions and grinding up of masala simultaneously, don't let it sit. Overall you will need 1 large cup of coconut milk of which - half goes into the masala base and the other half while cooking your curry. If you don't have Toddy Vinegar, you can replace it with a piece of tamarind or normal white vinegar works as well.
I picked my Toddy Vinegar from Mapusa Market, which has tons of stuff that you can pick up for and is typically used for Goan cooking.
INGREDIENTS :
For curry:
500g - Deveined medium/small sized prawns, without shell
1 large onion - finely chopped
2 small tomatoes - chopped
1 inch Ginger, coarsely smashed
Salt to taste
5 tbsp - Cooking oil
1/2 cup Coconut milk
2tbsp - Curry leaves for garnish
Masala:
1/2 cup - Fresh Grated Coconut
1/2 cup - Coconut milk ( orsufficient to grind the mixture to a fine paste)
1 tsp - Cumin Seeds
1/2 tbsp - Toddy Vinegar
10 - Kashmiri Red Chillies (add in more if you prefer it spicy)
5 small pods of Garlic
1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
1 tsp - Black peppercorn
1/2 tsp - Sugar
1tbsp - Coriander seeds
PROCEDURE :
1. Add all ingredients listed under "masala" in a blender jar and grind it to a fine paste. Set aside.
2. In a Kadai, heat oil, add chopped onions and garlic, fry till the colour changes - this should take about 6-8mins on a medium simmer.
3. Next, add chopped tomatoes and cook until they turn mushy.
4. Add in the ground masala base and cook with constant stirring for 8-9mins, until the raw smell disappears and colour changes. Ensure that the masala does not stick at the bottom of the pan/burn.
5. Add coconut milk and bring it to a boil.
6. Check for spice/ salt levels and adjust basis preference. Add in clean prawns, curry leaves and cook with a closed lid on, low flame, for 8-10 mins. Switch off the flame.
7. Let the curry sit for about 10mins with the closed lid on before serving with plain rice or Rotis.
