Prawn Curry

Jun 7, 2010 by glutenshmooten

Week 27 of the Cookbook Challenge, gosh I’m so behind in posting all my recipes! For this challenge the theme was Insect. Now I’m not really keen on using actual insects in my cooking, I’m not that adventurous, so decided to go with the “insects of the sea” – prawns.

I used my good old reliable curry cookbook, the aptly named “Best Ever Curry Cookbook”.

Ingredients:

675g raw tiger prawns (as you can see from my picture I cheated a bit and got cooked prawns)
4 dried red chillies
1 cup desiccated coconut
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1 large onion, chopped
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 bay leaves
1 inch piece of fresh root ginger, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tablespoon ground corriander
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 tomatoes, finely chopped
plain boiled rice, to serve

Peel the prawns and remove the thin black intestinal vein. Put the dried chillies, coconut, mustard seeds and onion in a wok and dry-fry over a medium heat for 5-6 minutes or until the mixture begins to brown. Stir continuously to ensure even browning and to avoid burning the coconut. Put into a food processor or blender and process to a coarse paste.

Heat the vegetable oil in the pan and fry the bay leaves for 1 minute. Add the chopped ginger and the garlic, and fry for 2-3 minutes.

Add the ground corriander, chilli powder, salt and the paste and fry for about 5 minutes.

Stir in the tomatoes and about 175ml (3/4 cup) water and simmer for 5-6 minutes or until thickened.

Add the prawns and cook for about 4-5 minutes, or until they turn pink.

Serve the curry on plain boiled rice.

I loved this curry, it was quite simple to make, very aromatic and it was interesting using desiccated coconut instead of coconut milk – it gave it a sweeter and lighter taste and is a bit healthier than using the milk so you don’t feel so bad having seconds