Prawn Curry Recipe

Prawn Curry Recipe
Prawn Masala (Kadhai Jhinga Masala)

Serves 4 in 30 minutes
Posted by The Skinny Cook : 16 February 2006

Curry / Prawn / Asian (India) / Main Dish / Stove / No marination
 

This Prawn Curry recipe is a fast and easy recipe which will be presented "step by step".

This Prawn curry recipe or better said Prawn Masala recipe is based on a Masala, which roughly translates to mixture, in this case a mixture of spices.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 pieces cardamom
• 2 cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 Oz (50g) onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped ginger
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
• 1 tablespoon chopped green chilli
• 3/4 Oz (20g) tomato paste
• 3 teaspoons tomato juice
• 2 teaspoons chilli powder
• 2 teaspoons turmeric powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 teaspoons coriander powder
• 1 pound (500g) prawns, shelled, with tails left intact
• 4 tablespoons water (optional)
• Handful coriander leaves, chopped roughly
• 1 tsp crushed black peppercorns
• 1 /2 tsp garam masala (See below)
   

PREPARATION

1. Heat oil in a pan. When smoking hot, add cardamom, cloves and the cinnamon stick. Stir-fry for 10 to 20 seconds or until fragrant.
   
2. Add chopped onion. Mix well for another 20 seconds until the onions turn light brown. Then add 1 tablespoon chopped ginger and the garlic. Mix well for 10 to 20 seconds.
3. Add the green chilli, remaining 1 tablespoon chopped ginger, tomato paste and tomato juice. Mix well and stir continuously for about 5 minutes so that the mixture doesn't burn.
4. Add the chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt and coriander powder. Continue to stir-fry over a medium fire until the oil separates from the mixture. This takes 1 to 2 minutes.
5. Once the oil separates, add the fresh prawns and mix well. If the mixture looks dry, add water and continue cooking for at most another 5 minutes.
6. When prawns are cooked, add coriander leaves and black peppercorns. Mix well and add garam masala. Serve hot with parata or yellow rice.

GARAM MASALA : A DRY SPICY MIX

Roughly translated, garam masala is a warm spice mix. In Indian cooking, it's the spice mix that adds flavour to curries (thin spicy gravy) and masala (thicker spicy gravy).

Masala can be a mixture of ground or whole spices and every cook has his own secret recipe. You can get garam masala from the supermarket, but if you want to make your own, here's a basic mix.

Ingredients : Garam Masala

8 cardamom pods
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
2 inch (5cm) piece cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon cloves

Preparation : Garam Masala

Dry-fry (without using any oil) all the ingredients for 1 to 2 minutes or until fragrant. Allow to cool, about 5 minutes.
Remove the seeds from the cardamom pods. Tear the bay leaves into pieces. Put them in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle with the remaining spices and grind or pound into a fine powder.
Store the garam masala in an airtight container and use sparingly.

 (Source : Magazine, name unknown, p 215)