Prawns Curry | Kolambiche Kalwan

A friend of mine once asked me what is that 1 thing I love doing most? “Cooking” was the answer that came out in a second. To me cooking is like meditation. I do not like interruptions or any disturbances while i’m in the kitchen. When I’m in kitchen is when my hubby and kids want ten things to be done and they would keep going….”Mom, where is my pencils?”, “Mom where is my puzzle piece?”, “Jo, have you seen my car keys?”, “little one- waaaaah, i’m hungry”,”waaaaah I need a nappy change”……. Gosh… I hate it much.. those interruptions. But can’t help it much. So I mostly try to cook when kids are sleeping and hubby is out or busy with other things, though this can’t be done all times, I do look for opportunities to get that peaceful cooking time.

I cook because I love food. ..Good food. I do cook a lot…and there are days when I just don’t want to enter the kitchen ;). I always wanted to try out food that is new to me, that would make you salivate just by looking at it. I mean who doesn’t want to do that? Isn’t it? I know I do.

I love prawns, and I love them FRESH! My aunt who stays in coastal region(Chennai) makes some delicious prawns in South Indian style every time we visit her. She knows that my family is foodie family, she never fails to impress us with varieties of sea food spread. There would be fish, prawns, shark in all forms, curries, stir fry, masala…I don’t cook prawns too often, it’s hard to find good quality fresh prawns here. One day I was craving for prawns badly, took my car went a few kilometers driving to a place where meat and sea food is sold. The quality here is far better than the other places, though sea food is not “FRESH” here, but it’s definitely the best you could possibly get in Bangalore I guess!

The original recipe belongs to Suvarna Pradhan, who posted it one of the FB pages. I have modified it a bit.

Here’s prawns curry recipe-

Ingredients:-

½ kilo fresh prawns (you may substitute frozen prawns but check that they aren’t pre cooked)
1 large onion finely chopped
2 large tomatoes pureed
(8 to 10 cloves of garlic,3 green chillies, coriander and a small piece of ginger) made into paste
½ cup of coconut or 1 ½ cup coconut milk
1-cup tamarind pulp
½ tsp. turmeric,
1 teaspoon chilly powder
salt to taste
11/2 tablespoon spoon oil
1 tablespoon finely chopped coriander

Instructions:-

1. Shell and de-vein the prawns and wash well. Apply turmeric, chilly powder salt, green masala paste and tamarind pulp to the prawns and leave to marinate.

2. Heat oil in a pan. Add the onion saute till translucent. Then add pureed tomatoes and cook till tomatoes are cooked and oil separates from the edges of the pan.