Goan Prawn Curry, Samar Codi

I found this great recipe while flipping through Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible. A quick look at the ingredients and I was most delighted to know I have got everything to make the dish except for the prawns. This reminded me very much of the mamak style prawn curry that I cooked a while back, after all they do share so many of the characteristics of a good southern Indian curry. Make sure you have plenty of steamed basmati rice and roti to mop up the delicious curry sauce. This is a relatively mild curry, I added some green chillies for the extra kick!

P.S We are having a perfect spring day here in Melbourne so I will have to come by to your blogs a little later :)

recipe adapted from Ultimate Curry Bible
serves 4 as part of an Indian meal
you'll need;
1 kg of prawns, peeled and deveined
2 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
8 peppercorns
2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbs bright red paprika
1/2 tsp of turmeric powder
2 tsp of of finely grated ginger
4 garlic cloves, crushed to a pulp
2 tbs of cooking oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 green chillies, cut into chunks (optional)
400 ml of coconut milk
2 tbs of tamarind paste
salt to taste

Prepare the chillies and onion.

Place all spices in a pestle and mortar and pound to a fine powder.

Add spice powder with ginger, garlic and 4 tbs of water to make a thick paste.

Heat oil in a pan and saute chopped onion til translucent before adding the spice paste, cook on medium heat for 2 minutes.

Next add in about 200 ml of water and bring it to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add coconut milk salt and tamarind paste and green chillies, bring it to a boil and simmer for 2 minutes before adding the prawns. Simmer gently til the prawns are cooked. Check for seasonings.

Serve as part of an Indian meal with plenty of steamed basmati rice and roti to mop up the delicious curry.

I also made some chapati to go with our meal.