Prawn Curry|Prawn in a Spicy Coconut Sauce

 For a while I have been wanting to make a prawn curry by Madhur Jaffrey. Madhur Jaffrey is known as the "actress who could cook". As per what I read she introduced Indian cooking to the western world. Its not because this is a recipe by her that I wanted to make this..No offense to Madhur Jaffrey. But I wanted to make this because this is what she shared with Julia Child on Cooking with the Master Chefs. She called it the 'southern Indian shrimp in a spicy coconut sauce'. Fancy huh. If Julia was impressed with this recipe, I told myself, I can impress my husband too.

Honestly, this is the best prawn curry I have made. It has the spiciness,'tanginess' yet the flavors are subtle because of the coconut milk. You should give this a try,The original recipe calls for coriander seeds. I substituted it with the coriander powder from my pantry,  I also made slight changes with the addition of some coriander leaves. This is my version of the recipe.

Ingredients

Half a kilo prawns peeled

I medium sized onion

Half red bell pepper(capsicum)

5 cloves of garlic

1/2 inch ginger

2 tbsp kashmiri chili powder

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp coriander powder

2 tsp pepper powder

2 tbsp canola oil/any refined vegetable oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

A pinch of fenugreek seed

10 curry leaves

2 green chilies

Salt

1/4 tsp sugar

1 cup thick coconut milk(I used canned coconut milk)

1 tbsp tamarind dissolved in 1/3rd cup hot water and strained

Method

Chop the onion, bell pepper, ginger and garlic roughly and blend this to a smooth paste.You can add 2 tbsp of water if required. Add the chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder and pepper powder and blend again. You should get a paste like below.

Heat oil in a pan. Splutter the mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds.

Add the the curry leaves and sliced green chilies. (If you don't want the heat but only the flavor, remove the seeds from the chilies). To this add the bell paper paste and saute till the oil separates or its slightly brown. This should take about 7 minutes on medium heat,

Add 1 cup of water, coconut milk, tamarind pulp,sugar and salt.

Give this a boil and strain this. Do not use a fine sieve because we want some body to the curry,

Heat the sauce again and check for salt. Add a handful of chopped coriander leaves and prawns.

 Cook for 5 minutes and you have a beautiful prawn curry in front of you. Serve it hot with rice!

HAPPY COOKING!

Tuna Cake Recipe

If you are on a budget, have canned tuna in the pantry yet you want to have a flavorful dinner, this is the way to do it-TUNA CAKES! There a are a zillion ways to make this, This dish is so versatile that you can throw in what you have in hand and make these scrumptious patties, This dish is a good source of protein.

These tuna cakes can be frozen. I used green chilies but you can substitute this with bell peppers and if you have only carrots or peas at home use that. Some people add mayo in the recipe and if you like mayo add 2 tbsp. . You man make this spicy, gluten free or not. If you don't want to have the bread crumb coating don't do the crumb coating but the result is excellent. Having said that, have to tell you that the bread crumb coating is the best part of this dish. Instead of regular bread crumbs you can use panko bread crumbs for the coating if you like that extra crunch.

Ingredients

370g canned tuna(drained)

2 eggs

1 cup +1/2 cup bread crumbs

2-3 tbsp plain flour

Half medium sized onion chopped

2 garlic cloves  minced

1/4 inch ginger minced

2 Green chilies (optional) chopped

1/4 cup Cilantro chopped

2  tbsp Lemon juice 

1 tsp BBQ spice powder(optional)

1 tsp Paprika 

1-2 tsp pepper powder

1 tbsp oil

Method

In a pan, heat oil and saute chooped onion, garlic, ginger and green chilies till translucent(or till raw smell goes). Keep this aside for 5 mins

In a bowl, mix the tuna. 1 egg. bread crumbs, cilantro,sauteed ingredients,bbq spice, paprika and pepper, I used my hands to mix this, (I know I know....you can use spoon or fork if you want)

Form the moisture into patties of the the size of your palm. I made 7 patties( I know right..tis' cheap...hehe)

. Dust the patties with flour. Beat the egg a bowl. Dip each patty in the beaten egg and roll with bread crumbs. 

At this point you can pack some and freeze if you want to, Defrost and shallow fry for 2 mins on each  side when its required.

Serve hot with salad,tomato sauce or cream cheese spread.

Happy Cooking!

Kerala Fish Fry (Meen Varuthath)/ Pan Fried Fish

Keralites can always be proud of there fish curries and fries, just like Hyderabadis can be proud of their mutton and beef and Madrasis for their vegetarian food . Simple, easy and delicious. I have not enjoyed having fish in any other states as much as in Kerala.

When Ammi buys fish, she cleans the fish and she divides into 3- a part of it goes for the next day as fish curry, a part it goes marinated into the freezer(this is for emergency) and the final part for fish fry for the very next meal. Fish fry tastes the best when its fresh. My biggest question for Ammi about fish fry was how to get the masala(a blend of spices) stick to the fish. She asked me to add a little plain flour or cornflour to the masala and see the difference. My aunt makes beautiful fish fry too. She told me once if you are frying fish in a big quantity add one egg yolk to the masala. But since its only my husband and I at home we don't fry lot of fish. So we stick to the 'flour plan' more than the 'egg plan'.

Ingredients:

500g King Fish (3-4 thick fillets)

Lemon juice 1 tbsp

Salt

Garlic 3 cloves

Ginger 1/4 inch

Ground pepper 1.5 heaped tsp

Kashmiri chilli powder 3 heaped tsp

Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp

Plain flour 1 tsp

A spring curry leaves

Oil of your choice(Coconut oil is the best)

Method:

Clean the fish with water, pat it dry and apply lemon juice on the fish fillet, If you dont like the skin of the fish you can ask your fish fella to remove the skin for you.

Grind ginger, garlic and salt( I used coarse salt).  I did this job with a mortar and pestle.

Add chili powder, turmeric powder, pepper powder and plain flour. Mix well. 

Marinate the fish for at least 30 mins. If you are marinating for a longer time, keep the fish in the fridge. I used my fingers since the masala was thick. No tool is as good as your hands, you see.

After the marination time is done, heat oil in a pan for shallow frying. Put a sprig of curry leaves for the oil to be infused with a nice flavor. Push the curry curry leaves away from the center of the pan. We don't want the curry leaves to stick to the fish. We only want the flavor. Carefully keep a fillet of fish on the pan. Can you hear the sizzle? I love that sizzling sound in a kitchen!

Fry the fish on each side for 3 minutes on medium heat on each side. I like my fish to the dark and super fried so I put the heat on high.

Serve with sliced onions and a lemon wedge. The lemon juice on the fish just makes the fish taste so fresh.

Writing about you know I am thinking, would it have made a difference if I had added a teaspoon of fish masala powder to the masala I made??

Happy Cooking!