Tomato Prawn Curry
About 20 years ago, I bought a book called "Entertaining Indian Style" by Shehzad Husain (You can get used copies on Amazon). It is great, and explains about Indian cookery and how to mix the spices for the recipes that I bought in a jar. I began to pick out recipes I knew, but wanted to cook from scratch. Chicken Tikka was the first one and became a favourite from the first time I cooked it, along with Potato and Cauliflower curry.
When we moved house, the book was put away for a while and didn't really get used until last year, when I once again wanted to try to make the curries I bought in a jar or from the takeaway. I wanted to try to be more authentic. This doesn't happen much because of the time it takes me (I'm sure if you do this a lot, it wouldn't take so long!).
However, tonight, despite the jar of Sharwoods awaiting its turn, I am in the mood suddenly to make a curry properly. I remember there is an opened carton of passata in the fridge from pizza making, so I look for a tomato based curry - something I don't normally have. I find one - Tamatar jhingay, translated as " Prawns with Tomato". Great! A little adaptation (R bought chicken, mushrooms and prawns) and away we go...
1 onion, sliced
1 tsp fresh ginger (I freeze whole ginger and grate straight from the freezer - easy and stops wastage)
1 tsp freshly grated garlic
1 tsp salt
1 tsp chilli powder
2 tbsp lemon juice
100g per person diced chicken.
handful button mushrooms, whole and halved
pack of cooked king prawns
tin of chopped tomatoes (I used up my passata tonight, but it was very tomatoe-y. Using a tin would have been better)
Heat some oil in a pan and fry the onions gently for about 7 mins, when they will be just turning golden.
Meanwhile mix the spices together with the lemon juice to form a paste.
Stir the paste into the onions and fry on a low heat for 3 mins.
Add the chicken and cook until sealed, before tumbling in the mushrooms.
Stir fry for a few mins and then pour in the tomatoes. Bring to the boil.
Turn down to a simmer, and cook for 10mins.
After this, put the prawns into the mix and cook for a further 5 mins to heat them through.
Serve with plain rice and naan.
I tasted as I went along tonight, as I felt it needed just a little bit extra, so added 1tsp cumin and 1 tsp coriander to the sauce halfway through, which isn't the best time as spices should be fried to release the flavours, but it helped. At the end of cooking, I stirred in a tbsp of natural yogurt to soften the tomato taste, as R isn't keen on tomato bases.
Remember that this curry is about flavour, not heat, and it won't taste like the jars or the curry house. We enjoyed tonight's attempt, but I would still be tempted to tweak it further. Watch this space...!
When we moved house, the book was put away for a while and didn't really get used until last year, when I once again wanted to try to make the curries I bought in a jar or from the takeaway. I wanted to try to be more authentic. This doesn't happen much because of the time it takes me (I'm sure if you do this a lot, it wouldn't take so long!).
However, tonight, despite the jar of Sharwoods awaiting its turn, I am in the mood suddenly to make a curry properly. I remember there is an opened carton of passata in the fridge from pizza making, so I look for a tomato based curry - something I don't normally have. I find one - Tamatar jhingay, translated as " Prawns with Tomato". Great! A little adaptation (R bought chicken, mushrooms and prawns) and away we go...
1 onion, sliced
1 tsp fresh ginger (I freeze whole ginger and grate straight from the freezer - easy and stops wastage)
1 tsp freshly grated garlic
1 tsp salt
1 tsp chilli powder
2 tbsp lemon juice
100g per person diced chicken.
handful button mushrooms, whole and halved
pack of cooked king prawns
tin of chopped tomatoes (I used up my passata tonight, but it was very tomatoe-y. Using a tin would have been better)
Heat some oil in a pan and fry the onions gently for about 7 mins, when they will be just turning golden.
Meanwhile mix the spices together with the lemon juice to form a paste.
Stir the paste into the onions and fry on a low heat for 3 mins.
Add the chicken and cook until sealed, before tumbling in the mushrooms.
Stir fry for a few mins and then pour in the tomatoes. Bring to the boil.
Turn down to a simmer, and cook for 10mins.
After this, put the prawns into the mix and cook for a further 5 mins to heat them through.
Serve with plain rice and naan.
I tasted as I went along tonight, as I felt it needed just a little bit extra, so added 1tsp cumin and 1 tsp coriander to the sauce halfway through, which isn't the best time as spices should be fried to release the flavours, but it helped. At the end of cooking, I stirred in a tbsp of natural yogurt to soften the tomato taste, as R isn't keen on tomato bases.
Remember that this curry is about flavour, not heat, and it won't taste like the jars or the curry house. We enjoyed tonight's attempt, but I would still be tempted to tweak it further. Watch this space...!
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