Malabar Prawn Curry

My husband loves prawns, but we rarely buy them because of the smell they emit when being cooked and the tedious proceedue of deveining them and cleaning them up. The last time we went to the supermarket, I found a packet of freshly cleaned prawns for sale. So I picked it up and tried my hand at the prawn curry that my mother and mother in law make so deliciously (BTW, my father and father in law are better cooks than their respective spouses).

I was never too fond of the prawns curry till before my marriage. I always prefered Prawn prepared in the "Thoran" style with lots of onions and coconut. Husband dear on the other hand is an ardent lover of the prawn curry. So now, everytime there is prawns at my mom's place, its this preparation that my better half so loves. Here is the recipe I picked from my mom.

Ingredients:

• Prawns - 1/2 kg, deveined & cleaned
• Raw Mango - 1/2 piece
• Tamarind - the size of a lemon
• Coconut - 1/2 shell grated
• Cumin Seeds - 2 tsp
• Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
• Chilly Powder - 2 1/2 tsp
• Onion - 1 cut into long slices
• Tomato (optional) - 1
• Ginger - 1 inch piece
• Green Chilly - 3-4 slit lengthwise
• Sour Curd - 3 tbsp
• Curry Leaves - a handful
• Salt - to taste
• Coconut Oil - 2 tsp

Method:

• Marinate the prawns with turmeric powder, chilly powder and salt
• Add onion, ginger. raw mango and green chilly to the marinated prawns and set aside for 2 hours.
• Soak the tamarind in water to extract the pulp.
• Grind grated coconut with the curd and cumin seeds to a fine paste (It is this consistency that decides how good your curry is going to be - so take care!)
• Cook the marinated prawns in the tamarind pulp till soft.
• Add the ground cocunut and curd mix and bring to boil. 
• Add salt to taste, curry leaves and a little bit of coconut oil and remove from stove.
• Serve with Rice or Dosa.