Grilled Prawns

Garlic Flavoured Prawns sitting with the marinade

 Ingredients

• 6-8 large prawns cleaned thoroughly but without removing the shells. Cut open the shells along the back of the prawn to remove the vein and also to help the marinade to get into the flesh
• 1 tbsp of finely chopped garlic (garlic is the strong flovour in this one)
• 2 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 tbsp of french mustard paste. If you cannot get this, make a paste of the mustard at home with a little water and use this
• 2 tbsp of chopped coriander leaves or parsley leaves
• ½ tsp of white pepper powder (use black if you do not have white pepper powder)
• Salt as per need
• 1 tbsp of lime juice

Mix together the ingredients and add the lemon juice at the end. Apply this mix on the prawns and gently push the marinade under the shells too. Let this marinate for an hour in the refrigerator.

Prawns in the spicier marinade

Ingredients

• 6-8 large prawns cleaned thoroughly but without removing the shells. Cut open the shells along the back of the prawn to remove the vein and also to help the marinade to get into the flesh
• 1 tbsp of ginger garlic paste
• 1 tbsp of Kashmiri chilly powder
• 2 tbsps of vinegar made from toddy
• ½ tsp of white pepper powder (use black if you do not have white pepper powder)
• Salt as per need

Mix together the ingredients. Apply this mix on the prawns and gently push the marinade under the shells too. Let this marinate for an hour in the refrigerator.

Grilling

• Grill the prawns on either side for 2-3 minutes each. Apply the extra marinade as you grill them. You can use a coal grill or use a normal tawa/griddle after applying a little bit of oil on it.
• If you are doing it on a tawa or griddle, once the prawns are grilled, arrange them on a wire mesh/rack and hold them over the flame for a few seconds. This will give it a sligtly burnt garlic flavour. This is not required if you are using a coal grill.

Do not overgrill the prawns since that would make it very dry and rubbery.

The finished product - the garlic flavoured one

The spicy prawns

One more picture of the garlic flavoured prawns

Spicy prawns

Serve with lemon butter sauce

To make the lemon butter sauce

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp of butter (Amul butter)
• 4 tbsp of fresh thick cream
• 1 tsp of lemon juice or more as per your taste
• A little bit of cornstarch
• A little bit of white pepper powder
• A little bit of italian seasoning (optional)

Method

• Melt the butter on low heat
• Add the fresh cream to the butter and keep stirring till everything is blended well
• Add a little bit of cornstarch and cook for a couple of minutes
• Add the lemon juice, white pepper powder and Italian seasoning. Keep stirring all the while.
• Serve warm with the grilled prawns as a dipping sauce.

Clear seafood soup

Ingredients

• 2 cups of fish stock (see my note below on how to prepare this)
• 1 tsp of finely chopped garlic cloves
• ½ tsp finely chopped ginger
• ¼ tsp of white pepper powder (use black pepper powder if you do not have white pepper powder)
• 1 tsp of cornstarch mixed with 4 tbsp of fish stock (add more cornstarch if you need a thicker soup)
• Salt as per need
• ½ tsp mixed italian herbs (optional)
• ½ cup of seafood and vegetables (boneless fish pieces, prawns cut into small pieces, shredded onion etc.)
• 1 tsp of salted butter (Amul Butter)

Method

• Take a sauce pan and melt the butter on low heat
• Add the chopped garlic and ginger. Sauté this for a minute (do not let it brown)
• Add the fish stock, pepper powder and the mixed Italian herbs
• Add the cornstarch. Bring the mixture to a boil and let it boil for a minute and then lower the flame and let it cook for 4-5 minutes
• Add salt and the solid seafood and vegetables.
• Serve hot

Important Note

When you make any kind of soup, the stock is the most important ingredient. If you make a good stock, you can make a great soup.

Making of the fish stock.

When you buy fish, plan beforehand if you are planning to make fish stock or not. The fish with firm flesh and large bones like black pomfret, king fish, Indian Salmon, Silver/White pomfret etc. are very good for making the fish stock. Use the portions around the center bone (which is generally discarded if you make boneless fish fillets) and small pieces of fish like the tail end etc. to make the stock.

Prawns Stock

When you buy fresh prawns, use the cleaned shells of the prawns (after discarding the head portion) instead of fish to make the stock. Clean the shells thoroughly and then follow the same method. The shells will substitute the fish pieces in this case. You will definitely have some scum formation in this case which needs to be removed periodically. Use this stock again for making soups or for adding to prawns recipes instead of water. You can also add a little of this stock when making prawns biriyani or prawns fried rice to get a richer flavour.

Ingredients

• 2 litres of water.
• Fish pieces (mostly bones with some small pieces of fleshy portions of fish) - should be at least 250 gms or more
• Take two onions and quarter them
• Take a large carrot, clean and cut them into big pieces
• ½ tsp of white pepper powder
• Salt as per need

Method

• Boil the water, add the fish pieces and reduce the flame to low. Let it simmer for a while. Scoop out any scum that may come to the top. If you clean the fish bones/pieces thoroughly you may not see any scum.
• After about 15 minutes, add the onions, carrots, pepper powder and salt.
• Let it simmer for about 45 minutes more
• Take the pan off the stove and strain the liquid into another vessel
• Gather all the onions (will be very soft by now) and the carrot pieces and also the fish pieces.
• Remove as much of flesh as possible from the fish pieces/bones
• Cut the carrots into smaller pieces. Store these in the freezer to be used when making soups.
• Once the strained liquid has cooled, freeze it. You could convert them into ice cubes and store them in a container so that it becomes easy to use it later.
• The stock and fish pieces thus stored can be used whenever you need it and it can be kept in the freezer for a couple of months at least.

Egg Roast in Kerala Style

Egg Roast is a famous Kerala egg dish. It is usually a bit on the spicier side and enjoyed with palappam or porottas or chappatis.

Ingredients

• 4 hard boiled eggs
• 4 large onions sliced very thinly
• 1 tbsp of ginger-garlic paste, coarsely ground
• 1 large tomato finely chopped after removing the skin by blanching the tomato in boiling water for a few seconds. Use ripe tomatoes so that they are not sour.
• 1½ tsp of coriander powder
• 1½ tsp of Kashmiri chilly powder
• 1 tsp of garam masala (Grind 1” piece of cinnamon, ½ tsp of aniseed, 3 cloves, 2 pods of green cardamom)
• 1 tsp of black pepper powder (reduce this amount if you want a less intense flavour of the black pepper)
• 4 dessert spoon of vegetable oil
• 1 sprig of curry leaves
• Salt as required
• ½ cup of water

Method

• Take a kadai and heat the oil
• Once the oil is hot, add the ginger garlic paste and sauté it for a couple of minutes on low flame
• Add the sliced onions and sauté the onions till they turn golden brown (slightly on the darker side)
• Move the onions to one side of the pan and add a little more oil if needed, so that there is sufficient oil in the center of the kadai. There should be at least 1 tbsp of oil at the center of the kadai
• Mix the masala powders into a thick paste by adding a little water
• Add the masala powder mix to the oil and sauté the masala for a minute
• Now mix together the onions and sauté for a couple of minutes more
• Add the curry leaves and then the tomato
• Sauté on medium heat till the oil seperates. This could take a few minutes.
• Add the water a little at a time, so that you have a thick gravy.
• Add salt as per need
• Add the boiled eggs after putting gashes on the eggs
• Cover and cook for 5 minutes

Serve with palappam, Kerala porotta (Malabar Paratha) or chappati.