Hot Punjabi King Prawn Curry - and it is hot, too!

Sometimes, a recipe just works so well and is so tasty, that it needs to be blogged ahead of the queue.  This is one such.

I found this recipe in the latest BBC Good Food magazine and you can find the original recipe - which deals with raw King Prawns as opposed to cooked King Prawns - if you click here.  The recipe apparently comes from a lady called Jagdish Kaur who hails from the Punjab'n de Rasoi cafe in Edinburgh.  I liked the recipe as it looked awfully easy to make (which is always a good thing) and had interestingly few ingredients.  So many curry recipes have ingredient lists as long as your two arms, that it was intriguing to find one working along such minimalist lines.

I won't deny that the notion of using three live chillis and some dried chilli flakes caused several ominous gyrations of my stomach, but the "Taste Team Comment" indicated that the heat was agreeable.  However, in the interest of self preservation I changed one of the chillis to a milder red version and removed all the seeds from it.

I also included a little fish stock - in my case, the lovely Essential Cuisine fish stock and have reflected these changes in the recipe below.  I think that adding just water to a recipe is often missing a golden opportunity to inject a little more flavour.  I accept that, in some curry recipes, the addition of stock would be inconsistent with the integrity of the style.  However, in this instance it worked very well.

In fact, we very nearly didn't have the curry at all.  I completely forgot about marinating the prawns on the night before and again first thing the next morning.  Even worse, we had a breakdown in communications and only got one bag of prawns out of the freezer, needing to defrost the remaining pack at the last minute, in a sieve, under the tap!  So, it may be worth bearing in mind that the marination of my prawns only took place for around a half an hour!  Oops!

The actual cooking of the recipe lived up to my expectation and was easy peasy.  I think it took longer to chop up the onions, tomatoes and coriander, than it took to do the cooking.

One cook's note that is worth bearing in mind, is that once the water is added it is worthwhile cooking the sauce until all the water has evaporated and the sauce is really thick - which is contrary to how the original recipe goes.  The reason for this is because as soon as you add the yoghurt and prawns, the yoghurt is going to melt to a certain degree and - no matter how well you've dried the prawns - they're going to release moisture.  If you haven't reduced the sauce to begin with, you're going to land up with a really dilute sauce which if you then try to reduce, you'll end up with rubbery prawns and split yoghurt.  Not good!  So make sure your sauce is reduced as far as it can go, before you add the marinated prawns.

Very definitely a hit with the family, I'll be making this again - perhaps with chicken next time.  Hubby declared it the best curry he'd had in many a long year (which is enormous praise, especially considering he was concerned about it turning to "pond water").  Son and heir didn't say anything, just sat stolidly moving his spoon from plate to mouth until it was all gone.  I think he liked it.  For me, I loved the flavours that were bright and fresh - and although the chilli effect made my nose run and the tip of my tongue hurt, I'd have it again tomorrow - and you don't get to say that about every recipe you make!

HOT PUNJABI KING PRAWN CURRY   (serves 3-4)

Ingredients :

For the marinade

600g cooked, peeled king prawns
6 tbsp full fat natural yoghurt
2 green chillies, finely sliced, with seeds
half a tsp of sea salt. 

For the curry

2 tbsp sunflower oil plus 2 tbsp rapeseed oil
half a tsp of cumin seeds
2 medium onions, finely chopped
1 tbsp finely chopped garlic
1 tsp turmeric
1 red chilli, finely sliced
2 tsp Garam masala
2 medium tomatoes, roughly chopped
half a tsp of sea salt
half a tsp of fish stock powder, or half a fish stock cube
half a tsp of dried red chilli flakes
2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, finely chopped.

Method :

1. For the marinade: Rinse and drain the prawns.  Pat them dry and put into a non-reactive bowl.  Add the yogurt, chillies and ½ teaspoon of salt.  Mix well, cover and marinate overnight in the fridge.

2. For the curry: Pour the oil into a deep sided wok or frying pan and set it over a medium heat.

3. Once the oil is hot, spoon in the cumin seeds, swirl and brown for 10 seconds.  Add the onions and sauté for about 10 minutes, or until golden all over.

4. Add the garlic, reduce the heat to low and stir and fry for 2 minutes.  Mix in the turmeric and stir for 1 minute.

5. Add the red chilli, increase the heat to medium and stir for 1 minute.  Mix in 1½ teaspoons of the Garam masala and stir for 1 minute.

6. Add all of the tomatoes, a pinch of sea salt and the chilli flakes.  Cook until the tomatoes have broken down, then add 120ml boiling water and the fish stock powder or cube.  Stir to combine.  Allow the curry to boil and reduce until all the extra liquid has gone and the sauce is really thick.

7. Stir in the prawns and their marinade plus the chopped coriander and cook over a high heat until they are heated through.

8. Sprinkle the remaining Garam masala over the top and stir.

Serve.

Printable version

Chicken Jhalfrezi - not only a healthier version, but delicious too.

Well, I finally got around to cooking the Chicken Jhalfrezi that Asda prevented me from cooking last week.  This week, they delivered all the required ingredients and I was able to set to following on from our tour of the New Forest and get currying.

I had been a bit nervous of this recipe, as I know how suspicious hubby can be of curry recipes that purport to be "lighter" or "healthier" than your average butter-rich, nut-laden, creamy curry.

However, this one had a nice mixture of ingredients that looked as though they would go well together - and I had a brand new pack of Garam Masala.  I know that these spice mixes can get a bit dull as you get towards the bottom of the pack, plus this was from a new manufacturer.  It turned out to be much sweeter and more fragrant than the Garam Masala we'd had last time - and was absolutely perfect for this dish.

The original recipe - from Mallika Basu (who I'm afraid I've never heard of) - asked for chicken thighs, but as neither hubby nor son are terribly impressed by chicken thighs, we went for the more agreeable skinless and boneless breasts.  I can't say we missed the extra flavour that the thighs bring.

The recipe suggested just naan bread as an accompaniment, but I knew that wouldn't go down terribly well as we do like a bit of rice (and rice is a lot cheaper than providing naan bread for everyone, particularly as we like Peshwari naan over the plainer variety).  So, I cooked up a small portion of basmati rice and we shared two Peshwari naans between the three of us.  In truth, however, we didn't need the bread as the rice was ample.

I really enjoyed this dish.  I used watercress as the salad greens - largely because I love the stuff and know that it is incredibly good for you.  However, hubby's comment that baby spinach would have been equally good, was valid and I will probably give that a go next time.  There is most definitely going to be a next time, as the flavour of the Jhalfrezi was so light and tangy that it went extraordinarily well with the lemon juice & salt dressed salad greens.

I am never happier (well, maybe that's a bit of a push, but I'm pretty darned happy) than when I have been able to serve something up to the family that I know was a) economical, b) nutritionally good for them and c) tastes fantastic.  This one scores on all three counts.

CHICKEN JHALFREZI (feeds 3)

Ingredients :

3 skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut into small strips
3 tbsp low fat natural yoghurt (I used Greek)
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp turmeric
half a tsp chilli flakes
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 medium onions
1 large tomato (or two medium vine tomatoes)
2 green peppers (one large, one small will do for 3 people)
1 tbsp vegetable or olive oil
half a tsp of grated garlic or garlic paste
1 tsp grated ginger or ginger paste
2 heaped tsp Garam Masala
25g fresh coriander, roughly chopped.

Method :

1.  Place the chicken in a bowl and add the yoghurt, tomato puree, turmeric and chilli flakes, plus the lemon juice.  Mix well, cover and leave to marinate.

2.  Whilst the chicken is marinating, peel and slice the onions, then slice the tomatoes and green peppers into 1cm slices.

3.  Warm the oil in a wok set over a high heat.  Once it is hot, fry the onions and green pepper for 2-3 minutes until softened, then add the garlic and ginger and fry until aromatic.

4.  Next, add the chicken with its marinade and stir vigorously for 5 minutes or until the meat is sealed evenly.  Add the tomato slices and continue to cook for another 5 minutes or so.

5.  Finally, add the Garam Masala and mix through.  Cover the wok and cook for a further 2 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.  Continue to cook until the sauce is greatly reduced.

6.  Stir in the coriander, taste to check the seasoning and serve on a bed of watercress or spinach dressed in lemon juice and salt.