Prawn Curry / Eraal Kuzhambu

I have this love and hate relationship in cooking non vegetarian food. I love it because I can experiment more; sky is the limit as I am not going to taste it. ;-) I hate it because I've to cook another veg food for me. 

So whenever I am in a good mood, I would prefer cooking non veg and the simplest of them is prawns. They cook easily and as I use store bought cleaned & deveined prawns, so my cooking gets complete in no time.

I always use coconut powder or just coconut flakes to thicken any gravy. This recipe uses rice powder for thickening. My Hus said he didn't find any difference. But this is a good alternative whenever coconut goes out of stock. She has used freshly ground mixture of spices and rice, but I used all store bought spice powders as they are all sitting in my pantry for long days. I need to finish them off before I leave to India for my vacation next month. Thanks Uma for this recipe.

Recipe Source: My Kitchen Experiments

Ingredients:

Prawn (deveined) 500g
Onion 1 / Pearl Onions 1/2 cup
Tomatoes - small-3
Ginger Garlic Paste
Chilly Powder 1/2tsp
Coriander Powder 1 tsp
Cumin Powder 1/8 tsp
Garam Masala 1/8 tsp
Fennel seeds Powder 1/8 tsp
Rice Powder 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder 
Salt
Water
Oil

To temper:

Cumin seeds 1/2 tsp
Aniseeds 1/2 tsp
Bay leaves2
Cloves 2
Cinnamon a small stick

Preparation:

Chop Onions and tomatoes. Grind tomatoes to a smooth paste. Clean prawns. Marinate the prawns with little Chilli powder, salt and turmeric powder for at least 20 minutes.

Method:

Heat Oil in a Pan, add all ingredients listed under "to temper". When they turn slightly brown, add ginger garlic paste and chopped onions. When onions turn translucent, add the ground tomato paste. 

Fry till the oil separates and now add in all the masala powders. Fry for a while until the masala is well combined with the mixture. Now add the Rice powder and water. When the water starts boiling well, add the marinated prawns. Cover and cook for 8-10 minutes or till done.

Serves: 2
Serve with hot steamed rice or any flat bread.

Simple Shrimps Gravy

Simple Shrimps Gravy—Looks like a Tongue Twister, Isn’t It?

When my Husband said he feel like eating Shrimps, I searched the Internet and bookmarked many different recipes. But he said he likes to eat a very simple one that goes well both with Rice and Chapati. I thought okay; let it be simple, as I am making it for the first time. It turned out to be really good.

When I started writing this Post, I had a doubt; If what I made today was Shrimps, then what is Prawns. I searched Wiki and found both are same except for difference in their gill structures.

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

Shrimps ¼ kg

Onions (Medium) 1

Tomatoes (Medium) 2

Finely Chopped Ginger and Garlic 1 ½ tsp each

Cumin and Aniseeds 1/8 tsp each

Cloves 2

Turmeric Powder ¼ tsp

Chilli Powder ¾ tsp

Coriander Powder 1 tsp

Pepper Powder ¼ tsp

Paprika Powder ¼ tsp (optional)

Water

Salt

Oil

Preparation:

Chop Onions and Tomatoes. Grind Together: Ginger, Garlic and ½ Tomato.

Method:

Heat Oil in a Pan. When hot, add Cloves. Few seconds later, add Aniseeds and Cumin. Fry till they crackle. Now add chopped Onions and fry till translucent.

Now add Ginger-Garlic-Tomato Paste and chopped Tomatoes. Fry till its raw smell goes off.

Add all the Powders and fry for some more time.

Add the shrimps now. Fry for few more minutes so that the Masala gets mixed with it. Add Salt and Water. Close the lid and cook till done. It would take 10 minutes or less on a medium to high flame.

Notes:

Shrimps need not be cooked for a long time. Paprika Powder is used to give color; it is not very hot.