Prawn Curry

One of my favorite dishes that my mother makes. Whenever she used to make this, I was never satisfied no matter how much I ate and always worried that I will not get enough to eat ;). But now I understand, we can enjoy a dish only when we have someone to share with. This is a simple recipe but requires a little patience in prepping the ingredients and while cooking it. The first time I made this I was so worried that I was doing it wrong, as it didn't look anything like mom's. But later I realized it takes some a little bit more time. If cooked properly, the smell of the prawns will be subdued, I have tried other varieties of prawn curry but this is my only favorite so far and most of my friends who ate this liked it, including those who cannot generally stomach the seafood smell.

Ingredients

Prawns - 400 g

Chopped onions - 4 to 5 medium

Chopped Tomatoes - 1 big

Chopped Coriander for garnish

Green chillies (slit) - 4 to 5

Salt

Red chilly powder

Turmeric powder

Ginger garlic paste

Garam masala

Tamarind juice - optional

Oil for frying

Water

Process

1. Clean the prawns: The veins of the prawns have to be removed, it is a bit time consuming but it is necessary.
2. Take a deep dish, heat some oil and first fry the green chillies and onions. The quantity of onions to used depends up the amount of gravy you want. The more onions you use, the more gravy you will have and the more time it takes to cook.

3. Once the onions become slightly translucent, add ginger garlic paste  and mix well. Fry till the raw smell of ginger garlic paste is gone. Keep stirring so that it doesn't get burnt at bottom.
4. Then add the chopped tomatoes and fry for some time.
5. Add salt, red chilly powder, turmeric powder, garam masala and 2-3 tsp of tamarind juice. Fry for some time.

6. Add the cleaned prawns. Mix well. Add little water, mix and close the lid. Keep stirring in between. Cook at medium heat. 

7. Add some water to it and close the lid. Keep stirring in between. Cook till water is gone and the curry colour changes to brown.

8. When you think the prawns are done, check by breaking a prawn. If not cooked to core, fry for some more time. Over cooking the prawns can make them tough.
9. Garnish with the chopped coriander.

I generally get the pre-cooked and deveined prawns from store. Just to be sure I check them again for veins and clean them thoroughly. Since they are pre-cooked or boiled, it cuts down on my cooking time and I don't have to worry about under cooked prawns. Also, they stink a lot less than fresh ones. I once did dare to buy fresh prawns, it took a lot of time to clean and in the end I couldn't tolerate the stinking smell. What made me wonder was that my mother always used fresh prawns and the smell was never so bothersome at that time.. may be I bought a different kind of fresh prawns. Anyways, I decided to stick with the pre-cooked prawns :).