Szechwan Prawns

This is a snack that can be prepared in a jiffy and yet tastes very delicious.

Ingredients

For the Marination

• Salt as per taste
• 1 tsp of fresh lemon juice

Other Ingredients

• 200 gm of cleaned and deveined prawns
• 2 tbsp of finely chopped garlic
• 1 tbsp of finely chopped ginger
• 3 tbsp of szhechwan sauce
• ½ tsp of black pepper powder
• 1 medium onion thickly sliced
• 2 tbsp of chopped spring onions (optional)
• Salt as per taste
• 1 tbsp of vegetable oil
• ½ tsp of dark soy sauce
• ½ tsp Red chilly paste (increase this to make the dish spicier) – to prepare red chilly paste, blanch whole dry red chillies in hot water for about 15 min, drain them and then grind to a fine paste.

Method

• For Marination
• Wash and pat dry the prawns
• Marinate the prawns with salt and lemon juice and refrigerate for 30 min
• Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a wok
• Once the oil is hot, add the chopped garlic and chopped ginger. Keep stirring them on high heat for a minute (they should not turn brown)
• Add the onion and sauté till the onion turns translucent
• Add the prawns
• Add the Szechwan sauce, black pepper powder, soy sauce, red chilly paste and salt
•  Stir fry the prawns on high heat for two minutes until they are cooked and coated with the spices. Take care not to overcook the prawns as overcooking makes them rubbery.
• Throw in the spring onions and serve hot.

Note

If you use store bought Szechwan sauce, check the hotness of it and adjust the quantities of Szechwan sauce and red chilly paste to provide the level of spiciness you want to the dish. The prominent taste of this dish comes from Szechwan sauce. I make my own Szechwan sauce.

Malvani Masala Prawns

Ingredients

For the Marination

• Salt as per taste
• 1 tsp of fresh lemon juice

For the Paste

• 2 tbsp of vegetable oil
• 5-6 Whole Kashmiri Red Chillies broken into smaller pieces (For a spicier version, use only whole Sankeshwari red chillies or a mix of Sankeshwari red chillies and Kashmiri red chillies).
• ¾ cup of grated dry coconut
• 2 tbsp of whole coriander seeds
• ½ tsp of cumin seeds
• 3 green cardamoms
• 2 medium sized onions thinly sliced
• One inch stick of cinnamon

For the Malvani Masala Powder

• 2 whole Kashmiri Red Chilly
• ½ tsp of whole coriander seeds
• 1 clove
• 3-4 whole black peppercorns
• A pinch of fennel seeds
• A small pinch of cumin seeds
• A pinch of caraway seeds (Shahi jeera)
• 1 black cardamom
• 1 inch stick of cinnamon
• 2 stone flowers (dagad phool)
• 2-3 nagkeshar
• A pinch of mustard seeds
• A small piece of dried turmeric (or directly use a pinch of turmeric powder while making the powder without dry roasting it first)
• A pinch of asafoetida
• A pinch of nutmeg
• 1 star anise

Other Ingredients

• 400 gms of cleaned and deveined prawns
• 3 tbsp of vegetable oil
• 1 tsp of cumin seeds
• 2 sprigs of curry leaves
• 1 large onion finely chopped
• 2 medium sized ripe tomatoes finely chopped
• ¼ tsp of turmeric powder
• 1.5 to 2 tbsp of Malvani garam masala
• Salt as required
• ½ cup of thick coconut milk
• 2 tbsp of chopped fresh coriander leaves

Method

• For Marination
• Wash and pat dry the prawns
• Marinate the prawns with salt and lemon juice and refrigerate for 30 min
• For the Paste
• Dry roast the whole red chilly, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, cinnamon and green cardamom on a hot pan on low heat until their aroma is released. Transfer them to a plate to cool.
• Dry roast the grated dry coconut on a hot pan on low heat until it becomes light golden in color. Transfer it to a plate to cool.
• Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pan and sauté the sliced onions until they caramelize and turn a light golden brown color. Transfer it to a plate to cool.
• Once all the ingredients are cooled down, grind them to a fine paste using a mixer grinder. Use water as required so that you get a fine thick paste.
• For the Malvani Masala Powder
• Dry roast all the ingredients one by one on a hot pan on low heat until their aroma is released. Cool them and then grind into a fine powder. This should make about 1.5 to 2 tbsp of powder.
• Heat 3 tbsp of oil in a deep pan.
• Once the oil is hot, reduce the flame add the cumin seeds and after they splutter add the curry leaves.
• After a few seconds, add the chopped onion and sauté them until it turns light golden brown
• Add the chopped tomatoes and cook them until the tomatoes turn pulpy.
• Add the turmeric powder and the ground masala and the Malvani garam masala
• Add salt as required
• Cook the mixture on a low heat until the oil separates from the masala
• Add the prawns and mix everything well. Cover and cook for 3-4 minutes or until the prawns are perfectly cooked. Overcooking the prawns will make them hard. Hence take care not to overcook them.
• Once the prawns are cooked, add the coconut milk and mix everything together and cook for another two minutes
• Adjust salt as required.
• Remove the pan from the stove and add the chopped coriander leaves.

Serve hot with white rice, appam, neer dosa etc.

 

Butter Garlic Prawns

 

Prawns are yummy in any way. They are great as main dishes or as starters/entrée/appetizer. They are quick to prepare because the cooking time required for prawns is just 2-3 minutes for the small/medium prawns. Cook any longer and they become rubbery. You really do not need to marinate them for long. They absorb flavors quickly.  The only downside is that they are usually expensive. Select prawns that are not stale. They should be firm on the touch and should smell fresh. If you do not want to go through the hassle of cleaning them, buy them frozen which are already peeled and deveined.

Go to any restaurant serving sea food and you will always find butter garlic prawns on their menu. This is a recipe that lends itself to a lot of variations that are fun to make and super tasty to eat. The basic ingredients are butter, garlic, prawns, lemon juice and seasonings like salt and black pepper. So below is the very basic version of this recipe. I have added a bit of bell peppers to this preparation as you can see in the pictures. But you can avoid them if you do not like them.

 

Ingredients

• 200 gm of peeled and deveined prawns. You can leave the tails on to make the prawns look more sophiscated.
• 1 tbsp of finely chopped garlic cloves. You can add more garlic if you love them.
• 2 tbsp of butter (Amul butter for those in India). If needed add a bit (1 tsp) of olive oil too along with the butter. The olive oil prevents the butter from getting burnt.
• 1 tsp of finely chopped coriander leaves
• 1 tbsp each of yellow, red and green bell peppers cut into 1 cm x 1 cm cubes
• Salt as per taste
• Black pepper powder as per taste
• 1 tsp fresh lemon juice

Method

• Wash and pat dry the prawns using a kitchen towel
• Heat a skillet over medium heat
• Add the butter (and olive oil) and once the butter melts add the garlic
• Sauté the garlic until the raw smell goes away (1-2 min). Make sure that the garlic does not turn brown. So reduce the flame if needed while stirring the garlic often.
• Add the bell peppers and sauté for a min.
• Add the prawns and sauté for about 2-3 min (depending on the size of the prawns) until they turn from translucent to opaque white inside and pinkish on the outside
• Season with salt and black pepper powder. If you have used salted butter (like Amul) then add less salt than usual.
• Add the chopped coriander leaves
• Add the fresh lemon juice

Serve hot on a bed of iceberg lettuce

 

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.

Prawns Gassi

This is one Konkani/Mangalorean dish that I love. Simple to make and yet very delicious. Again, I hope this recipe is authentic. However if some friends from the Konkan coast could give their seal of approval or give the correct version of the recipe, it would be really nice.

Ingredients

• Prawns - 500 gm (weight after cleaning and deveining)
• One medium sized onion, finely chopped
• 3 tbsp oil (coconut oil preferred)
• 1 sprig of curry leaves (optional)
• Salt, as per taste
• Pulp extract of 1½ tbsp of tamarind (take a lemon sized tamarind ball and add it to a bowl of lukewarm water. Strain it after about 15 minutes)
• Prawns stock/water, 2 cups

Masala Paste

• Roasted whole Kashmiri red chillies - 10 to 15 (depending on how spicy you want it to be)
• One medium sized onion thinly sliced
• 2 tsp of roasted whole coriander (you can substitute with coriander powder)
• ¼ tsp of fenugreek seeds
• ½ tsp of turmeric powder
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 10-12 black peppercorns
• 1 cup grated coconut (half of one medium sized coconut)
• 8-10 garlic cloves

Grind the above into a fine paste using a little water.

Method

• Clean the prawns and mix it with salt and set aside for a while (15-20 minutes)
• Take a pan and add the oil
• Once the oil is hot, add the curry leaves (optional)
• Add the chopped onions and sauté till the onions turn slighly brown
• Add the ground masala and fry it on medium heat till the whole mixture turns brown and the oil seperates from the masala
• Add the tamarind extract as needed (keep tasting it so that you do not add too much or too little)
• Add 2 cups of prawns stock or water
• Once the mixture boils, add the prawns and salt and reduce the flame
• Cook the prawns for about 5 minutes

Prawns stock

• If you are buying fresh prawns, keep aside the shells, except the head, while cleaning them.
• Wash the shells well and add them to a pan with 3-4 cups of water
• Boil the mixture and then turn it to simmer and let it simmer for at least an hour
• Remove the scum that may form at the top
• Strain and you have the prawns stock. If you have excess stock, store them in the freezer and use them as required for soups and other preparations of prawns.

This goes well with white rice or naan.