Prawn and courgette curry recipe

250 g prawns raw

1 courgette diced or green beans

1 small onion

2 cloves of garlic

1 inch ginger

1 small tin of coconut milk

1 tsp each of ground turmeric, chilli, cumin and coriander

1 small stick of cinnamon, few cloves and cardamom

Sliced green chillies

1 bay leaf

1 or 2 tablespoons of oil.

1 teaspoon sugar

I keep my cooking simple. If you haven’t got an ingredient, leave it out or replace. The main ingredients are good quality prawns, turmeric and coconut milk and of course the base for the sauce: onion, garlic and ginger. You can also make delicious prawn curry without coconut milk. Cook with confidence and your curry will be all the better for it. A curry is a bold dish and so it needs gusto. Act panicky in front of the pot and you’ll get a diluted version. The pot is a vessel for your emotions. It reads your thoughts and feels your emotions. Most of all, it knows you are nervous. Show the pot who is boss. My curries as a twenty-one-year-old-fresh-from-India-bride were weak. You get the picture.

My measurements are approximate. For example, I took out a few handfuls from a bag of frozen prawns. It looked like 250 g, but that is just an estimation. I didn't get my weighing scales out as I didn't think I would be blogging about it. I'm a regular cook not one trying to be Nigella. Don’t be religious about measurements. Indian cooks use andaz which translates to guessing or estimating. Each curry varies according to the cook’s personality, family recipes, the region he or she comes from, the time of the month and most importantly mood. Beware, your curry will be hotter if you are cooking angry. That is not a bad thing.

If you are cooking prawns, you are clearly not a shellfish phobe. Black tiger prawns are the best but the ones with heads and shells on do need a bit of a clean. Keep the heads in the curry of you wish for a more delicious gravy. Juicy brains, need I say more? Faint hearted souls - buy clean, shelled ones. Heads need to be trimmed – whiskers, eyes, out. Peel off shell and devein – which means slit the back and take out black thread. If you don’t know what that is, I’m not going to tell you. Some things are better left unexplained. This is not a biology lesson.

Wash the prawns and sprinkle with salt and turmeric. Massage and leave for half an hour.

Chop or blitz onions to a paste in a food processor. Chop or grate garlic. Grate ginger. You can put all three in the food processor and cook together. No one will know.

Heat oil and add a teaspoon of Indian butter/ghee, if you’re feeling generous and that diet isn’t working. Add the prawns and fry quickly until pink. Take out and leave in a dish. Add a touch more oil and stir in bay leaf, whole cloves, cardamoms, cinnamon sticks. Fry the onion, garlic and ginger paste until golden and mushy and the raw smell has gone. Add the courgette pieces and fry for a few minutes. Add the ground spices and stir quickly making sure the pan isn’t dry. You do not want your spices to burn, That is the one rule in a curry. Add a little bit of oil to help the frying process. Add salt and a small tin of coconut or half a large one. You can add some water to dilute the sauce at this stage enabling the courgette to cook. If you are not adding any vegetables you don’t need to add much water. The sauce should be thick. Add sliced green chillies, sugar and salt to taste. Cover and cook for ten minutes or until the vegetables are nearly cooked. Add prawns and cook for a further five minutes. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with rice.

Good luck! Experiment and change the recipe until you are happy with your version. This is mine. I will be adding recipes from dishes I have mentioned in my novel Under the Pipal Tree, like pea pancakes and coconut dal (lentils). I'm more a writer than a cook but I like to share my laid back style of cooking from time to time. 

Under the Pipal Tree is available from Amazon and Cinnamon Press.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XJ2HSBH/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1491589672&sr=1-1&keywords=Under+the+Pipal+Tree

http://www.cinnamonpress.com/index.php/hikashop-menu-for-products-listing/fiction/product/241-under-the-pipal-tree-anjana-chowdhury