Prawns Biryani

I keep telling people that one of the biggest tragedies of my life is that my husband is allergic to prawns !! Seriously, i lovvee prawns and he cant even stand the smell of it..!!so the only time i cook it is when i have guests over otherwise i feel guilty about eating it all by myself. The other day i had few prawns leftover from an earlier dinner party and i had no idea what to cook out of it. If i made some curry, that would mean making another curry for my husband. Not a good idea. So i thought of making biryani..made the masala and divided the same masala adding prawns to one pot and chicken to another.. Two biryani, two very happy people :)

Anyways here's the recipe.

Ingredients
2 big onions - finely chopped
ginger - 1 inch piece
garlic - 4 cloves
1 big tomato - finely chopped
Bay leaf - 1
Cloves -4 to 5
coriander leaves - 1 tsp
mint leaves - 4 to 5
chilli powder - 2 tsp
coriander powder - 1 tsp
turmeric powder -1/4 tsp
Garam Masala - 1 tsp
salt to taste
Prawns : 250 gms - shelled and deveined.
Rice : 3 cups
Water : 4 cups


Method:

Wash and soak the rice for about 10-15 minutes.
Blend together the ginger,garlic, coriander, mint leaves and marinate the prawns in this mixture and set aside. Meanwhile in a heavy bottom vessel, add some oil. Add bay leaf, cloves and fry for a minute. Now add the chopped onions till its soft and golden brown. Add the tomatoes and cook till it starts leaving the oil. Add all the spice powders , garam masala and fry till the raw smell goes away.
Add the prawns and stir fry till the prawns start changing color. Now drain the soaked rice and add it to the pot. Add the water,salt and stir gently to mix everything. Cover the pot with a lid and let it steam on low heat for half an hour.

Serve garnished with fried onions, cashew nuts and chopped coriander

Prawns Fried rice

Having lotsof leftover rice in the refrigerator...sick and tired of wanting to eat them with the same combi of curry n veggies, well this is the best alternate option you can come up with.

I had some frozen tiger prawns too, which i used in here. You can omit this or substitute it with chicken or either use just plain veggies.

Ingredients :-
Prawns - 250 gms
Red chilli paste - 2 tsps
Soya sauce - as per taste
Sesame oil - 2 tbsps
Veggies - 1 cup of diced veggies (red n green peppers, carrots etc)
eggs - 2
salt to taste
cooked n cooled rice - 2 cups
onions finely chopped - 1 (use spring onions 3-4 for a better flavour, i didnt have any)
ginger, garlic and red chillies finely chopped - 1 tbsp each

Method:
Marinate the prawns with 1 tsp of red chilli paste, sesame oil 1 tbsp and soya sauce 1 tbsp. Keep aside while you finish chopping the vegetables approx 10-15 minutes.

Heat a wok and add some oil to it. Beat together 2 eggs, add salt and pepper and pour it into the wok. Fry the omlette on both the sides, remove from wok and keep aside. Cut it into thin long slices.

Clean the wok and keep it on high heat. Add some oil. Once the oil is close to smoking point, add the chopped ginger garlic and red chillies. once these soften add the onions and fry till soft. Throw in the prawns and stir them around till they start to become pink.
As soon as the prawns start to change color, add the veggies and stir around.
Note: Do not wait for a long time to cook the prawns as they will continue cooking while you add the vegetables. Else they might become too rubbery.
Add rest of the soya sauce, sesame oil and red chilli paste (optional if you dont like it too hot) and salt. Once the veggies have softened, add the rice and stir till everything is mixed. Finally add the slices of omlette and garnish with coriander.

Find other yummylicious fried recipes here, here and here.

Varutharacha meen curry - fried and ground fish curry

I was hunting for the perfect accompaniment to go with kerala appams(rice pancakes that look like mini UFO's turned upside down :D). I called up mom immediately and this is the recipe she gave me. My mom is even worse than me when it comes to giving the measurements n also the ingredients :( but thankfully this time i did remember exactly how much i added

In a frying pan, heat 1-2 tsp of oil (coconut oil), fry around 1/2 cup of dessicated or freshly grated coconut. When the coconut starts changing color, add 3-4 peeled pearl onions or shallots. Fry for a minute taking care that the coconut is not burning and stirring continuously. Reduce the heat to low and add 3 tbsps of coriander, 2 tbsp of chilli powder. stir in and take off the heat immediately. Grind this into a smooth paste once its cooled.

In a saucepan or meen chatti(if ur the lucky people who have one), add the ground spicepaste, 2-3 cups of water and some kudampuli(fish tamarind) soaked in water. I normally use just one piece of kudampuli as it can be very overpowering. You can substitute this with tamarind paste or pulp soaked in water. Once the mixture comes to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and add the cleaned and washed fish pieces (250-300 gms cut into small pieces). I used a firm fish called KingKlip, you may use small fishes like mackerel, sardines etc or even pomfret king fish etc.. Let the mixture simmer for atleast 15-20 minutes till the gravy thickens. Add salt to taste.

Separately fry some finely sliced pearl onions/shallots preferably in 2-3 tbsp of coconut oil for the authentic taste, add fenugreek powder and curry leaves. Add this to the fish curry and let the curry rest for atleast 15-20 minutes before serving. The longer the curry rests, the better it taste. Enjoy with hot steaming appams or plain rice.

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

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