Chemmeen Mapas (Kerala Prawn Curry with coconut milk)

The wedding season is here and all the partying and staying out late in the cold winter evenings does call for a sleepy and lazy Saturday/Sunday. The last thing you want to do that day is get up early and cook up a huge elaborate fare. Last Saturday was a similar one. We had just got over a very busy week involving loads of work at the office and hectic wedding celebrations in the evenings.
I decided to cook some prawn curry native to the christian community of Kerala. Since I have never tasted it in the past and was making do with an old newspaper cutting that had the instructions, I do not know whether I ended up making it as it should be, but it surely tasted heavenly with steamed rice on the side.

Chemmeen Mapas

Ingredients:
Prawns, washed, shelled & deveined - 250 gm
Oil - 2 Tblsp
Mustard seeds (Rai) - 2 Tsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 Tsp
Onion, sliced - 1
Green Chillies, slit - 2
Ginger, chopped - 2 Tsp
Garlic cloves finely chopped - 12
Coriander Powder - 2 Tsp
Red Chili Powder - 1/2 Tsp
Tamarind, soaked in 2/3 up of water - 1 Lemon sized ball
Coconut milk - 2/3 Cup
Salt - To Taste

Method:
1. Heat oil in a pan. Add in the mustard seeds. When they start to crackle, add in the fenugreek seeds, Sliced onion, green chillies, ginger and garlic.
2. Fry till onion turns translucent.
3. Mix together the coriander powder and red chili powder with a tblsp of water to form a paste. Add the spice paste in and fry again for 2 minutes.
4. Extract the tamarind pulp and add that to the pan. Add in the salt and cook.
5. Bring the mixture to a boil. Add prawns and cook till prawns are half done.

6. Pour in the coconut milk and mix well. Bring to a boil and remove from heat.
7. Serve hot with steamed rice or appams.

Read more »

Goan Escapades (Part 1) - Prawn Balchao

My trip to Goa last month was my first there. Many find it hard to believe, especially after knowing that I spent 3 years in Mumbai and 2 years in Pune. The fact remains that there are so many great destinations short of goa along the Konkan coast that you just cannot reach goa. They hijack you with their charm and virgin beaches.

Apart from one of the best training interventions in the last few years, the trip to goa was a great culinary adventure. The hotel we stayed in, Park Hyatt Resort & Spa, is a fantastic property. The hotel beach is amazing and their food is lip smacking. I would though give their Italian restaurant a pass.
One of the restaurants that I made a beeline to almost everytime was Casa Sarita. It is named after Chef Sarita who heads the restaurant and literally translated means "House of Sarita". Chef Sarita is an amazing cook and has designed all the dishes on the menu. She has been featured on various food shows on NDTV, IBN and has even had Karen Anand take recipes from her (You can hear that in the video). What is even more interesting is to note that she is self taught and has not been to a cookery course or college. What came as a pleasant surprise was the fact that Casa Sarita has been featured in the Conde Nast Hot List Tables 2008 in Indian category. This annual list names the best in the global dining scene and this is one of the four Indan restaurants featured. One bite of the food and you wonder why not ...the food is great, the staff fantastic and the chef great.
Chef Sarita was extremely obliging in letting me record her while she cooked and let me post those signature dishes on this blog. This recipe for Prawn Balchao is the first one in the series. Since it was not a planned event, the videos have been recorded on various digicams available to the group that was along with me. I am still sourcing out various other videos containing recipes and pardon the noise in the background (you can hear my irritating voice trying to make small talk with chef Sarita) and me trying to capture every little nuance of this cuisine.

Read more »

Jhinga Samarkand

Crude oil prices continued to rise, inflation finally touched the double digit number, N-Deal still hangs midway, Portugal got booted out of Euro'08 ( I never supported them anyways) ...So, what's good in the week that's gone by...well, I had some nice tandoori prawns for Dinner :) ...sums up the little joys in life that matter so much even in the face of some big issues faced by all. Food, good food makes one forget how hard the day was, and all the problems one's facing, atleast for the time being.

I came across this recipe in a cookbook some months back and had jotted it down separately to try out. Made a few changes and tried out. Makes for a good starter.

Jhinga Samarkand

Ingredients -

Jumbo Prawns - 10

Ginger-Garlic Paste - 2 Tblsp
Vinegar - 2 Tblsp
Water - 2 Cups

Marinade -
Gramflour (Besan) - 50 gm
Cornflour - 15 gm
Onion Paste - 2 Tblsp
Red Chili Powder - 1 Tblsp
Garam Masala - 2 Tsp
Carum Seeds (Ajwain) - 1 Tsp
Kasoori Methi - 1 Tsp
Yogurt - 1 Cup
Egg -1 No.
Lemon Juice - 2 Tblsp
Oil - 2 Tbslp
Salt - To Taste

Method- Pre-Preparation -
1. De-shell, devein & wash prawns under running water.
2. Mix Vinegar, water & ginger-garlic paste. Soak Prawns in the paste for 10 minutes. Drain.
3. Mix all ingredients for the marinade.
4. Marinate the drained and dried prawns in the marinade for 30 mins.

Preparation -
1. Heat the tandoor, oven, grill or microwave.
2. Skewer the prawns. Baste them with oil.
3. Roast on slow heat.
4. Serve Hot sprinkled with chaat masala and alongwith Mint Chutney.

Note: Keep turning prawns to ensure they cook evenly on all sides.
Baste with oil when half done.

Read more »

Anything for some Prawn Curry

This weekend had a great golfing weather. Summers typically present a challenge to play after the 9:00 AM and some showers the night before Saturday ensured we did not have the sun beating on us. Plus it was only 2 of us, so we teed off early and wrapped up by 9:00 AM and I was ready to take the long drive back home and spend the weekend glued to the TV. It was then Harry, my colleague and golfing buddy gave me a call. He hadn't joined us for the round of golf and was lazing on Saturday morning. His fish supplier had just paid him a visit with 6 Kgs of some huge sized prawns and Harry insisted that I pick up some of them. At first I refused, since I was planning on having chicken. After some time, he called again and insisted. His words, "I'm generally not too pushy, but these are good large prawns."

I turned the car and headed straight for his house and after I saw the prawns I didn't regret it. The prawns were huge, as in huge. We had them shelled, deveined and cleaned. In the meantime we chatted and I had some good ol' Roohafza and finally started to proceed home planning on having a good prawn lunch.

Prawn Curry

Ingredients:
Jumbo Prawns(shelled, deveined and cleaned) - 9
Kokum Syrup - 1/2 Cup ( You can substitute with Tamarind)
Garlic Paste - 2 Tblsp
Ginger Paste - 1 Tblsp
Red Chilli Powder - 2 Tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1 Tsp
Garlic Cloves, chopped - 4
Onion Paste - 1 Cup
Green Chillies, chopped - 2
Cilantro, chopped - 2 Tblsp
Coconut Milk - 1/2 Cup
Water - 1 1/2 Cup
Salt To Taste
Oil - 2 Tblsp

Method:
1. Marinade the prawns in Kokum, ginger garlic, red chilli powder,salt and turmeric powder.
2. Heat Oil in a wok. Add Garlic and let it brown slightly.
3. Add in the onions and fry for 3 minutes or till they turn translucent.
4. Add in the prawns and fry for a minute.
5. Add in green chillies, cilantro and coconut milk, followed by water.
6. Bring to a boil.
7. Serve hot with rice.

Footnote: Now everyone pairs food with wine/beverages. Here's my take on it. I'm gonna sample food with music. Have this dish listening to sleepwalker (wallflowers) followed by Otherside(Red Hot Chili Peppers) ...tht's wht I did .....the feeling of satisfaction was heavenly!

Read more »