Keralan King Prawn Curry Recipe

Recipe from The Hairy Bikers' Great Curries by Si King and Dave Myers published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson (£20, hardback)

Ingredients

• 500g jumbo tiger prawns (thawed, if frozen)
• 1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 long red chilli, deseeded
• 2 garlic cloves
• 25g chunk of fresh root ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp sunflower oil
• 12 fresh curry leaves
• 1 tsp black mustard seeds
• ½ tsp ground fenugreek
• pinch of asafoetida
• 1 tbsp cold water
• ½ tsp ground turmeric
• 200ml coconut milk
• juice of 1 lime
• flaked sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper

To serve

• 4 tbsp chopped fresh coriander leaves
• 1 lime cut into wedges

Method

1. First peel the prawns, removing their heads but leaving the tails on to look decorative. Slit the prawns down the back and remove the black stuff – it's not good to eat.

2. Put the onion, chilli, garlic and ginger in a food processor and blitz them to a paste. You might need to remove the lid of the food processor and push the mixture down with a rubber spatula a few times.

3. Heat the sunflower oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the curry leaves, mustard seeds, fenugreek and asafoetida, then fry for 20–30 seconds, or until you smell the delicious aroma. Add the onion, chilli, garlic and ginger paste and fry for another 1–2 minutes.

4. Then add the water, turmeric and prawns and cook for 1–2 minutes or until the prawns are pink and the water has evaporated. Stir well to cover the prawns in the spice mixture.

5. Pour in the coconut milk and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook for 1–2 minutes until the coconut milk is warmed through and the prawns are done. Squeeze over the lime juice.

6. Garnish with the chopped coriander and lime wedges and serve with delicious Keralan parathas.