Kadai Masala Prawns

Once a while as is normal with my cravings to eat prawns and crabs...I contacted Mr. Mohamed Farook,(my newest friend on Facebook) of Supreme Seafood in Chennai. Heavenly!! cleaned and deveined prawns arrived home...a bit later than the given time but that was ok as long as it satiated the need and hunger for the day...I mean week as I can't eat at one go, I mean I may look like a Big person, but I eat such delicacies in small instalments owing to my guilty conscience as it may trigger one's cholestrol levels with excessive eating.With my thyroid playing havoc with my metabolism...me gots to be extremely cautious!

will continue the recipe soon...sleep overcomes me ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz!

The update :-Sorry about that dear readers, was tired...had walked quite a bit yesterday, I guess I was physically drained.As the first pic denotes-thinly slice the onions and tomatoes. Grind and set aside ginger and garlic together. Make a paste of a few cashewnuts with a tsp. or more of water.Slit green chillies. Mix two tbsp. of coriander powder, two and a half tsps. of red chilly powder,half a tsp. of pepper powder and a tsp. of cumin powder in two tbsp. of water and keep aside.

 First step- marinating the prawns in turmeric,salt and the juice of a lemon and set it aside for a long while .
Heat the coconut oil in a deep pan on medium heat and crackle a tsp. of mustard in it. Once the mustard crackles, add in a broken dry red chilly. Slide in the thinly sliced onions and saute it until it is golden brown. Add in the ground ginger garlic and stir for a while. Then add in the slit green chillies(as desired) and your thinly sliced onions until the entire mixture gets nice and mushy. At this juncture add in the spices that were mixed and set aside and let it fry for a while unil the raw smell disappears and your kitchen smells heavenly...well atleast mine did and it's when one adds these spices that one tends to sneeze...Oh boy! I love it when the olfactory nerves get a high when those spices hit you...love the messages that run between the brain and the faculty of smell :)

So with the spice mixture frying lightly, slide in the now beautifully marinated prawns and stir in the prawns along with the spice so that they are all coated nice and even. Add adequate water to let the spices and the prawns cook for a while. Add the required salt, do taste and adjust the spice level...if required add in more spice It doesn't need much time as the prawns will immediately shrivel up and in less than fifteen minutes the dish is done.

Add the cashew paste, cover with a lid and let it cook on a low heat until nice and soft. Add in a tsp. of garam masala to finish off the dish. Stir well!You can let the water evaporate and make it a dry version or leave it like so to ensure that you have a nice curry at hand. Add a few curry leaves and a tsp. of coconut oil to bring the dish to a culmination.
The variations could be you can make it tangy by adding the extract of a little tamarind or you can make it less spicy(this was quite spicy) by adding in some fresh coconut milk.

This dish can also be used by replacing th prawns with chicken pieces. In this way you get your Kadai Masala Chicken. Do enjoy it hot with rice.

http://www.supremeseafood.in/home.php -For those in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India