Peppery Prawn Curry

Hello boys and girls,

Welcome to cooking with Varun! Anyone else out there like prawns? And I mean really like prawns? I for one, love those little guys! Little compared to me anyway, I like my prawns big! I remember this one time, my Dad, brought home this gorgeous prawn curry with prawns bigger than ping pong balls, my eyes nearly fell out of my head! And the flavour was out of this world! Spicy with a hint of coconut! Piping hot curry on a bed of white rice and the ping pong prawns. Aww! Got drool on my keyboard again!

I remember, when I was in college, my friends and I would go out to eat every so often and some weekends we'd go for a buffet lunch. I don't know about other kids, but my allowance back then wasn't exactly massive so the objective of any buffet was, 'Get your money's worth!', and we'd tell ourselves, stuff your face with as many expensive things as humanly possible to cover the buffet cost and anything else is secondary. There was a magical post exam night when I ate 24 (very expensive) jumbo prawns on skewers (along with the rest of the buffet of course) and then spent all night holding my stomach but all I could think was, 'Worth it!'. I'm not suggesting everyone follow my method but I can proudly say, thanks to this simple practice, I've made the most of every buffet I've been to!

As far as cooking goes, over the years, I've tried out many different prawn recipes, ranging from starters to curries with gravies that contain coconut milk and chillies or tomatoes or even mustard. Today's recipe is a peppery tomato and onion based gravy that is hot enough to make you sweat, but not so hot as to burn your taste buds so you can't taste the prawns.

For Peppery Prawn Curry, you will need the following:

Prawns	500 gms (as big as you can get them)
Onion	1 large
Tomatoes	2 medium (tinned tomatoes will give it a great colour)
Green chillies	3-4
Mustard seeds (rai)	2 tsp
Ginger garlic paste	1 tsp
Dhaniya (coriander) powder	2 tsp
Red chilli powder	1 tsp
Black Pepper	2 tsp
Jeera (cumin) powder	1/2 tsp
Salt	to taste
Oil

Prep:

1. De-vein the prawns if you haven't already got them done. To do this, grab a small knife, hold it like a pencil and cut out the dark line running through the outside of the prawn.
2. Finely chop the onion.
3. Pop open the tomato can if you're using tinned tomatoes. (Try not to slice open your finger. I've done this more times than I care to count. I know you want your food to have that rich red colour but this isn't the way to do it!)
4. Puree the tomatoes.
5. Chop the chillies.

Method:

1. Turn the gas on.
2. Bung on a pan.
3. Splash in some oil.
4. Count to 20.
5. Bounce in the mustard seeds.
6. Slide in the chillies.
7. Grab the lid to the pan as a proactive measure to thwart the onions' dastardly plan of spattering you as it hits the oil.
8. Add in the onion.
9. Throw the lid on.
10. Listen with satisfaction as the lid is peppered with a mixture of oil and onion water!
11. Wait for the spattering to subside.
12. Gingerly remove the lid.
13. Deftly avoid the last ditch sneak attack of the onion spatter.
14. Cook the onions until brown.
15. Add in the ginger garlic paste.
16. Mix into the onions and cook for a few minutes.
17. Sprinkle in the dhaniya powder, chilli powder, jeera powder and the pepper.
18. Pour in the tomato puree.
19. Cook until the oil separates from the tomatoes.
20. Add in the salt.
21. Pour in 2 cups of water and bring to a simmer.
22. Plop in the prawns.
23. Drop the heat down to a little above low and slide the lid back on.
24. Cook for 5 minutes.
25. Take the lid off.
26. Cook for another 2-3 minutes until the gravy meets the desired consistency.
27. Turn the gas off.
28. Serve with rice.
29. Stuff face.
30. Bask in the glory of your successfully executed dish.

Tip: Never cook the prawns for more than a few minutes. Overcooking prawns makes them shrivel up and makes the texture rubbery. 

And remember, overeating is a myth. A full tummy is a happy tummy!