South Indian Prawn Curry

I love the gravy of this prawn curry. It is spicy, slighly sour which makes me want to eat heaps of rice to soak up the gravy. If you prefer it hotter add more chilli.


Ingredients
350gm raw prawns
1 Tbsp tamarind paste
1½ cup water

1 - 2 Tbsp oil
½ tsp white or black mustard seeds
1 stalk lemon grass, bruised
1/8 tsp salt (to taste)
3/4 tsp sugar
1 spring curry leaf
1 tomato (optional)

Spice Paste (grind together)
2 Tbsp ground coriander
1 Tbsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground fennel
½ tsp chilli powder or chilli paste
1 Tbsp chopped ginger
½ small onion
1 clove garlic



Method
1. Knead tamarind with water, strain and set aside.

2. Heat oil in wok and fry paste and mustard seeds over medium heat for 5-6 minutes or until paste is fragrant and volume has reduced by about 1/3.

3. Add tamarind liquid, lemon grass, salt, sugar and tomato and simmer for 4 minutes.

4. Turn up the heat. Add prawns and curry leaves and cook until the prawns turn pink and is cooked through.

5. Serve with rice.



Tip : I always grind my spices with the coffee grinder as ready ground spices can get stale and taste dull very quickly.
Do the sniff test, if your ground spice do not smell fragrant, toss it out.

Recipe : Shiok Exciting Tropical Asian Flavors by Terry and Christopher Tan (adapted)