Grilled Butterfly Prawns

I never enjoy my food when i eat using a fork and knife. It just doesnt taste as good as when you eat using your fingers and ofcourse the last yummy lick to your fingers...dont you love to get your fingers dirty. This dish lets you dig in with both your hands and watch your guests/family enjoying every second of it.

Ingredients
Prawns - With shell and tail intact (500 gm)
butter - 1/2 cup
red chilli paste - 2 tbsp
ginger/garlic paste - 1 tbsp

Method:
Cut out the head of the prawns. Now with a sharp edged knife, make a small incision which runs against the length of the prawn. Do not make the incision too deep as it would then cut the prawns into two halves, which we obviously wouldnt want.

When the incision reaches the tail, make the cut a little deeper and you will find that the prawn automatically opens up easily. With the help of the knife, make smaller cuts on the incision so that they open up further.

Wash and pat dry the prawns. Now marinate the prawns with ginger garlic paste, lemon juice and salt to taste. Leave the prawns to marinate for 15 mts to an hour.
Note: In case you are using salted butter, adjust salt levels accordingly. Ideally i marinate the prawns and pop it in the oven just before im serving. That way, im sure the prawns are nice and piping hot. It doesnt taste as good when its cold.
Now mix the butter with the red chilli paste.Apply this mixture to the insides of the prawns. Arrange the prawns on a baking tray. Drizzle some olive oil over the prawns and let it grill in a preheated oven for 15 mts at 180C.

Serve immediately.

P.S: This is another one of my dearTholsieAmma's recipes

Egg Roast

This is a family favourite and my mom just whizzes this up, when there is nothing interesting for dinner.. Ive also been following her footsteps religiously ;)

Boil and shell eggs(4), make 4 tiny slits on the egg. Cut 1 big onion into thin slices, also chop some ginger into juliennes. In a frying pan, add some oil and add the onions and ginger and some curry leaves. when the onions are nicely brown, add coriander powder(1 tbsp), chilli powder (1 tbsp), turmeric powder (a pinch), some salt. when the oil starts to separate from the mixture, add the eggs. Coat the eggs lightly with the masala mixture and let it fry for around 5 mts or so. Take it out from the heat and serve the eggs roast with chappati's or rice. I had made rice and some boring daal, so served the eggs with it :)

Easy Breezy Crab Curry

Ive learnt this recipe from one of my most adorable person here in South Africa - Tholsieamma. She calls me her daughter-in-law :) Last time we went to their place, she painstakingly cleaned the crabs and cooked it.. Her recipe was so simple and the taste so delicious that i wanted to try it out immediately. But unfortunately for me, having never cooked crab before i was skeptical. The other day i found some nice frozen crabs which were cut into decent pieces. Atleast no tension of prying apart the claws and wondering which side to cut !!

One of the hints amma told me while cleaning/cutting the pieces is that you must cover the piece in a kitchen towel and then give it a nice whack to break it. Else the shell splinters and can also enter your eye. Thankfully for me i didnot have to struggle with the crabs i got, cos they were nicely cut and only had to give it a few cuts here and there. Lots of small talk now lets crawl to the recipe.:)

Clean and wash the crab. Marinate the crab with ginger/garlic paste and red chilli paste for 15 mts. In some oil/ghee, fry the crab pieces with some curry leaves, till the crab pieces turn pink.Remove and set aside.

To the same pan, add some more oil/ghee and add diced onions(1 big) and fry till golden. Add some cumin/jeera powder(1/4 tbsp), red chilli powder(2 tbsp), coriander powder(1 tbsp) and fry till the raw smell goes. Now, add a can of tomato puree or you could make a paste of tomatoes(1 big) which have been added to briskly boiling water and then have their skin removed and ground to a nice puree. i prefer the second version, as it adds more flavour to the curry. Once the oil starts separating from the onion/tomato puree mix, add tamarind paste (1 tbsp) 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil and then add the fried crab pieces to it. Season with salt and allow to simmer with the lid closed, for 10-15 minutes till the gravy thickens. If you wish to thicken the gravy further, add some more coconut milk/cream just before you take it off the heat.

Serve hot with rice/chappatis