Crab Meat & Prawn Masala!!!

Hi guys!!!

This is a dish I prepared quite a while ago. I had bought a pack of crab meat to prepare Crab cakes and I could not finish the entire pack. I had put it in the fridge and forgot about it for a couple of days. When I took out the prawns to prepare my usual Prawn Masala and was not very happy with the idea of preparing the same dish again, it struck me that I had some crab meat left in the fridge. I decided to combine both the ingredients and come up with a good sea food mash-up curry. It was a success 'coz we both loved it so much :-)

Now lets see the recipe.

Ingredients:

Crab meat - 200 gms
King prawns - 15
Onion - 1
Tomato - 1 big
Ginger & garlic paste - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Corriander powder - 1 tsp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon - 1" stick
Cloves - 5 or 6
Cardamom - 2
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Salt - as per taste
Oil - 2 tbsp

Procedure:

1. Heat oil in a kadai and add all the whole spices and let them sizzle. Now add the chopped onions, followed by ginger garlic paste and tomatoes.
2. Cook till they turn mushy and combine to form a paste and the oil starts to ooze.
3. Now add the prawns and keep mixing till it lets out all the moisture and is almost cooked.
4. Add all the masala powders except garam masala. Mix well and add salt and check the salt and spices. Now add the crab meat and mix thoruoughly.
5. When the masala has been absorbed by the meat and the curry has lost all raw smell, add the garam masala and mix well. This should take about 10 minutes. Switch off heat and serve.

Tastes great when served hot with steamed rice or rotis!!!

Prawn Pulao!!!

Hi guys!!!

It was a while since I cooked a dish using prawns and it did not occur to me until my husband mentioned it when we were shopping our groceries. The next day I decided to prepare something with prawns for lunch. I long wanted to try prawn pulao and I thought I will give it a go. The recipe is very simple yet the pulao turns out to be a great lunch!!!

Now lets see the recipe.

Ingredients:

Basmati Rice - 2 cups
King Prawns - 15 -20
Onion - 1
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Fennel powder - 1/2 tsp
Bay leaves - 2
Cinnamon - 1/2" stick
Cloves - 5
Cardamom - 2
Corriander & Mint leaves - a buunch
Salt - as per taste
Oil / Ghee - 1 tbsp

To grind:
Ginger - 1/2"
Garlic - 3 cloves
Green chillies - 2
Whole black pepper - 1/2 tsp

Procedure:

1. Grind the ingredients under "to grind" into a coarse paste and keep it ready.
2. Heat the oil in a pressure cooker and add all the whole spices and let it sizzle. Next add the onions and the ground paste.
3. Immediately add the cleaned prawns and keep mixing well on medium heat till the prawn is cooked.
4. Add the turmeric and fennel powders, salt and 3 cups of water. Finally add the rice and the corriander and mint leaves.
5. Cook this under pressure for 10 minutes and turn off heat.

Serve hot with raita!!!

Sweet Chilli Prawn Sauce!!!

Hi guys!!!

OOOOOOH... Long time!!! Right from the start of the month I have not been able to find the time to blog. The reason being that every weekend we have been out having fun with friends and the weekdays just flew away with the shopping for my birthday and my birthday itself!!! Yeah, I turned 26 last week!!! One step closer to the big Three-O!!! Fine let me not grind on that now. Although, I could not get myself to sit at home and post recipes here, I did cook some new dishes 'coz Ganesh was home most of the days and religiously clicked them for the blog :-)

This Sweet Chilli Prawn sauce is my attempt to reproduce a similar dish that I had in a theme park recently. After all the amazing rides I was so hungry and could not settle for a burger or anything similar. So I decided to try the Chinese food. I ordered rice with sweet chilli chicken sauce. It was so delicious and my husband who just tried it said with his mouthful "You gotta try this at home". And yes I did!!! The following week when thinking about preparing something nice for dinner I decided noodles and sweet chilli sauce would be great!!! I had to use prawns 'coz there was no chicken at home. The recipe turned out great and we enjoyed every single bit of it.

The recipe itself is very simple and takes less than 30 minutes to prepare this satisfying meal. Now lets see the recipe.

Ingredients:

King Prawns(cleaned and deveined) - 15
Onion - 1
Bell peppers - 1
Garlic - 3 cloves
Soy sauce - 1 tbsp
Sweet chilli sauce - 2 tbsp
(Not the Maggi sauce. Use the oriental variety)
Salt - as per taste
Seasme/Regular cooking oil - 1 tbsp

Procedure:

1. Heat the oil in a wok and add the chopped onions, peppers and garlic. Saute till they turn soft.
2. Now add the prawns and saute till they are cooked completely. Next add the soy sauce and the sweet chilli sauce. Mix well and add salt if necessary.
3. Add chopped spring onions and switch off heat when the sauce is well incorporated with the prawns.

Serve hot with steamed rice or noodles!!!

Quick Prawn & Egg Fry!!!

Hi guys!!!

This is one of the often prepared dishes with prawns. This is quite easy and the combination of prawns and egg is just so YUMMY!!!!! This is a perfect side dish for rasam or sambar rice. All you need is onions, prawns, eggs and the masala powders that you have all the time. How simple is that!!!!

Now lets see the recipe.

Ingredients:

Prawns (deveined and cleaned) - 250 gms
Eggs - 2
Onions - 1 big
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder - 2 tsp
Corriander powder - 1 tsp
Salt - as per taste
Oil - 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - a bunch

Procedure:

1. Heat oil in a kadai and add the mustard and cumin seeds and let them sizzle. Add the curry leaves followed by the chopped onions and saute till the onions turn transparent.
2. Now add all the masala powders and salt and mix well. Make sure the heat is medium so that the masala powders do not get burnt.
3. Next add the prawns and mix well with the masala. The prawns let out some moisture when cooked on medium heat so there is no need to add water. When all the water let out is absorbed and the prawns are fully cooked, add the eggs into the kadai and keep mixing till they scramble uniformly with the prawns and masala.

Quick and simple prawn and egg fry is ready!!!

Spicy Prawn Fry!!!

Hi guys!!!

Prawn is an all-time favorite to both me and Ganesh. I prepare prawns in some form once a week. I have long wanted to try a deep fried version of prawns and did so finally :-) Just toss in a few spice powders, mix well and fry.. Voila!!! A yummy and crispy prawn fry is ready.

Now lets see the recipe.

Ingredients:

King Prawns (cleaned and deveined) - 20
Besan powder - 2 tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Corriander powder - 1 tsp
Fennel powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - as per taste
Oil - for deep frying
Curry leaves - a bunch

Procedure:

1. Mix all the powders with salt and make a smooth paste by sprinkling some water. Add the prawns to this mixture and toss well till the masala coats thoroughly. Set this aside for atleast 1 hour.
2. Heat oil in a kadai on medium high flame. When the oil is heated add the prawns and fry on both sides till golden brown.
3. When done with all the prawns just fry the curry leaves in the same oil and use them to garnish the prawns.

Super simple prawn fry is ready. This is a great combination with rice and rasam/sambar. Even good to just munch on as a snack :-)

Prawn Biryani - Malabar Style!!!

Hi guys!!!

Biryani is a weekly once dish that I mostly try and fit in for a quick and delicious weekend lunch. When I say quick, yes it means I mostly prepare the biryani as a one-pot meal in the cooker. Just chop and put everything together in the cooker and there it is ready in 15 minutes :-) Occasionally, I do try to spend more time in preparing the biryani.

There used to be a Kerala restaurant named "Thattukada" in my office building in Chennai and their biryanis are really good. There certainly is something about having a layered dum biryani and Keralites are very good at that I must agree. I have always liked Kerala food and their layered version of biryanis is something that I try when I feel like the biryani sure needs to be special that day.

When I say special and talk about more time, it does not mean the process is difficult. It only means more attention to some details. Though, the procedure is simple the time taken is a little longer but the oven does the work so we really need not worry :-) The whole process involves, preparing the spiced rice, the gravy and layering them and cooking on dum. Finally garnishing with fried onions and cashews. Like I said simple!!

Now lets see the recipe.

Ingredients:

For the spiced rice:
Basmati rice - 2 cups
Cinnamon - 1/2 inch
Cloves - 4
Bay leaves - 2
Star Anise - 2
Cardamom - 2
Salt - as required
Ghee - 1 tbsp

For Marination:
King Prawns (deveined and cleaned) - 12 or 15
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Corriander powder - 1 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Pepper powder - 1 tsp
Lemon juice - 2 tsp

For the prawn gravy:
Onion - 1 big
Tomato - 1 big
Chillies - 2
Ginger - 1 inch
Garlic - 2 cloves
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Corriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Oil - 2 tbsp

For garnishing:
Ghee - 2 tbsp
Onion - 1 lengthwise slit
Cashews - 10 broken

Procedure:

1. Marinate the prawns with the ingredients listed for marination and let it rest for an hour. Also, soak the rice for an hour, drain and set aside.
2. To prepare the spiced rice, heat the ghee in a pressure cooker and add all the whole spices and let them sizzle. Now add the completely drained rice and saute for a while. (It is important to make sure that u completely drain the rice to avoid sticky result)
3. Add 3 cups of water and salt and close the lid and let it cook under pressure upto 2 whistles or for 10 minutes. When done let it sit till the gravy is done.
4. To prepare the gravy start with shallow frying the marinated prawns. Just fry for a few mins in medium flame and keep aside. Do not drain the excess masala from the prawns 'coz we would be using it in the gravy.
5. Now heat some oil in a kadai. When it is getting hot, grind the chillies, ginger and garlic into a paste.
6. Once the oil is hot, add the chopped onions and saute till crisp. Next add the ground chilly and ginger mixture and fry till raw smell leaves.
7. Now add the chopped tomatoes and saute till they combine well to form a masala paste.
8. Now add the shallow fried prawns along with the excess masala and the oil that u used to fry them. Combine well and keep mixing. Check the spice level and if required add the masala powders listed under gravy.
9. Add about 1/3 cup of water and salt and close and cook for 5 minutes. When the raw masala smell leaves add the garam masala powder and mix well once and switch off and remove from heat.
10. For the layering, take an oven safe dish and grease it well with ghee. First layer the dish with the rice(almost 2/3 of the whole) and then pour a layer of the gravy (all of it). Sprinkle some ghee and finish the layer with the remaining rice. Sprinkle some ghee and a dash of garam masala powder and seal it well with aluminium foil and cook it in a preheated oven at 180C for 20-25 minutes.
11. Once the cooking is done, let the rice cool in the sealed manner for atleast 15 minutes.
12. Prepare the granishing by frying onions and cashews in ghee. Use this when serving.

Note: When serving you can slightly mix up the layers but it is optional. Also, I have mentioned a 3 layer biryani with just 1 layer of gravy. If preparing in huge quantities in bigger vessels (in actual dum over the stove top) u can use more layers. But the rice should always be the final layer.

The yummylicious Malabar prawn biryani is ready to serve. I like them with raita and omelette. Any usual biryani accompaniment should be good too!!!

I am sending this recipe for the Kerala Kitchen Event - Feb 2012  hosted at Roshan's Cucina!!!

Crispy Prawn Fry!!!

Hi guys!!!!

Yet another prawn recipe :-) This is a simple but delicious appetizer. Lets directly go to the recipe.

Ingredients:

King prawns(peeled and deveined) - 12 or 15
Egg - 1 beaten
All purpose flour - 2 tbsp
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Breadcrumbs - as required
Oil - as required for frying
For Marination:
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Black pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
Soy sauce - 1 tsp

Please ignore the quality of the picture 'coz I was so hungry and had no patience to take good pics :-)


Procedure:

1. Marinate the cleaned prawns with salt, pepper powder and soy sauce for atleast 30 mins.
2. Meanwhile mix the all purpose flour with chilli powder and salt and keep it in a dish. Take the beaten egg in a separate dish and set it next to the flour. Take breadcrumbs in a dish next to the egg.
3. After 30 mins, heat oil in a kadai on medium flame to fry the prawns.
4. Roll the prawn in the flour and shake the excess off. Next dip it in the egg and then roll it in the breadcrumbs. Press the breadcrumbs against the prawn and place it in the oil in the kadai. Repeat the same with all the prawns.

Crispy prawn fry is ready!!!!

Prawn Biryani!!!!

Hi guys!!!

Biryani is a rich and flavorful Indian dish. Most important fact is that it really does not require a lot of effort to prepare this delicious meal. I prepare some type of biryani every weekend. Lately it has been more often prawn biryani. That is mainly because my husband and I are die-hard sea food fans and I love the flavor prawn adds to the rice.

We tend to have prawns atleast once in a week in some form or the other. And whenever Ganesh sees KIng prawns in the sea food aisle he'll pick it up and say Prawn Biryani or Pulao this weekend and smile :-) As we all know that weekends are lazy days. And by lazy I mean waking up late and sitting in front of the TV not realising that it is almost 1 o' clock and ur stomach starts growling in hunger... Thats when I run to the kitchen telling my husband that it is not going to be sambar, rasam and poriyal day, but instead I can prepare biryani. And not even once has this option disappointed him. Who can be disappointed to have biryani right???

So enough with biryani stories. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:
Serves - 2 people

Basmati rice - 2 cups
King prawns (peeled and deveined)- 12 or 15 (depending on size)
Onion - 1 big
Tomato - 1 big
Green chillies - 2 chopped
Ginger & Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Corriander leaves - a bunch
Mint leaves - a bunch
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Corriander powder - 1 tsp
Cloves - 4
Cinnamon - 1" stick
Cardamom - 2
Star Anise- 1
Bay leaves - 2
Oil & Ghee - 1 tbsp each
Salt - as required

Procedure:

1. Wash and soak the basmati rice for around 15 mins. Drain the water completely and set aside.
2. Heat the oil and ghee in a pressure cooker. Make sure the flame is in medium heat. Add the whole spices and let them sizzle for a minute till they release the flavor.
3. Now add the chopped green chillies and the mint and corriander leaves and saute till the leaves wilt.
4. Next add the lengthwise slit onions and saute till they turn transparent and crisp.
5. Add the ginger garlic paste and mix well. Now add the chopped tomatoes and mix well. Let it cook till the tomatoes are cooked and forms a paste with the onions.
6. Now add the cleaned prawns and mix well. Now add all the masala powders and salt and mix well with the prawns. Close the lid with some gap and let the prawns release the moisture and get cooked for a few minutes. Make sure to saute in between so that there is no sticking to the bottom.
7. Now add 3 cups of water to the cooker. Generally for biryani the ratio of water to rice is 1.5:1. This ratio results in rice not being sticky. Then add the rice and stir well.
8. Finally sprinkle a few drops of ghee and add some chopped corriander and close the lid of the cooker.
9. Let it cook for 10 minutes under pressure or upto 2 whistles and remove from heat.

Serve hot with raita and boiled egg. A fantastic weekend lunch!!!!

Prawn Masala / Iral thokku !!!!

My husband is fond of seafood and anything cooked with prawn makes him so restless and he drives me crazy before I can finish the dish. :-) This prawn masala is a very simple dish and I prepare them almost on a fortnightly basis.

The advantage of being abroad (one advantage I should say) is that cooking non-veg becomes so easy. The reason being, the meat is well cleaned and packaged. Ofcourse, the downside is that we don't  get to eat fresh meat. But still with the overhead of cleaning the meat eliminated, the dish does taste all the more better :-)

As I said, this is a very simple recipe. The dish can be prepared in a jiffy with the least number of ingredients.

Ingredients:
Serves -  2 people

Prawns (deveined and cleaned) - 200 gms
Onion - 1 no
Tomatoes - 1 no
Ginger & garlic paste - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Chilli powder - 1 1/2 tsp ( vary according to required level of hotness)
Corriander powder - 1 tsp
Salt - as required

To season:
 Oil - tbsp
Mustard - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - a bunch

Procedure:

1. Heat oil in a kadai on medium flame. When hot, add mustard and cumin seeds. When they splutter add the curry leaves and saute.
2. Next add the chopped onions and saute till they turn translucent and crisp. Then add the ginger and garlic paste and saute till the raw smell vanishes.
3. Now add the chopped tomatoes and saute till they are cooked and mushy and form a paste like consistency with the onions. This should take a couple of minutes.
4. Now add the prawns and mix well with the paste. Then add the masala powders and salt and mix well. There is no need to add water since the prawns when cooked let water out. If you feel, the masala sticking to the bottom then sprinkle some water.
5. Cover and cook for about 10 mins. You know it is done when the prawns are coiled up and well absorbed in the masala. Switch off heat and garnish with corriander leaves. the masala is ready :-)

I have found this dish perfect for rotis. But I am sure this should go well with rice and sambar/rasam.