Coconut Prawn Curry

This is a favourite dish from my village in Goa, one of those finger licking dishes that taste best eaten by hand. This simple dish is best had with white rice. You can add ladyfingers (okra) or green mango as a variation to this basic recipe. Both lend their unique taste to the dish, taking it to another dimension. If you eat this curry the next day, the spices get more time to mature, giving the dish some more depth of flavour.

This coconut prawn curry is best made in the local earthen pots, and nothing tastes better, than having the remaining bits and bobs of the curry that's stuck to the pot, scooped up with a little rice! Heaven in every bite!

Prawns in a coconut curry

Ingredients:
500gms prawns, shelled and deveined
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp chilli powder

Other ingredients:
2 onions
10 dry red kashmiri  chillies
1 tsp of ginger garlic paste
3-4 pieces of kokum (dried berry used as a souring agent)
2 tomatoes
3 green chillies roughly chopped
1 1/2 tsp of cumin powder
1 1/2 tsp of coriander powder
1 tsp of chilli powder
1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
1/2 tsp of tamarind paste ( I use the ready Priya's tamarind paste)
9 tbsps of coconut milk powder
2 cups of water

Method:
Marinate the prawns with salt, turmeric and chilli powder. Cling wrap and set aside for an hour. 

In a mixer, grind the kashmiri chillies. When reduced to a powder, add in the onions and grind to a fine paste. Then add in the tomatoes, ginger garlic paste and spices such as cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and chilli powder. (note: you can use cumin seeds and coriander seeds instead of the powder version). You should get a really nice thick red masala paste.

Heat oil in a casserole. Add in the roughly chopped green chillies and also the masala paste. Add the kokum and cook for about 5 mins. Add in the tamarind paste and give it another 5 mins.

Reconstitute the coconut milk powder by adding 2 cups of water. Add the water slowly to the powder, so you can remove any lumps that form. I prefer to use lukewarm water. 

Keep the heat on a medium and let the coconut milk cook a further 10 mins, taking care not to let the curry boil or it could cause the coconut to split. 

Once the curry is ready, add in the marinated prawns and cook for no more than 7 mins.

Note: for any fish/prawns that are added to a curry, do not cook for more than 7 mins for that perfect texture. 

Serve hot with white rice. 

Fish Cakes

 Fish cakes or cutlets as they are commonly known  are extremely versatile. They can be served as a snack, in a sandwich, as an appetizer or a side for a party, and they make a good healthy addition to any kid's lunchbox. All kids love to eat these homemade little patties and you will find yourself struggling to stop them from having more than one at a time!

Fish Cakes

I do have to tell you a funny little story about these patties.. My mom, I think makes the best kind. She can turn anything into a patty, vegetables, meat, chicken, lentils... I know I'm biased, but I've tasted a lot in my lifetime from all different sources, and I don't know anyone else's who matches up to hers in terms of flavour. But aside from that, the funny bit I remember when she used to make them, was, she would always count the number of patties she made. She usually made a lot and kept, as it was the easiest snack to go to in the fridge whenever we felt hungry. Fyi, these taste great even cold! For some reason, she didn't like the idea of making 13 patties. So if she did land up making that many, which happened quite often, she would go through the whole process of readjusting the sizes of all the others, to make sure there were either 12 or 14! Funnily, I found myself counting them when I made it yesterday and felt a bit of relief knowing there were 16! 

In my mom's version once the fish is cooked and mashed, she adds in the raw onions, chilles etc to the mix to bind it. In this recipe, I have cooked the onion mixture. My mom's recipe is great if you want a bit of texture to your cutlet, but I had my kids in mind when I made this and you know kids, they don't usually like crunchy bits and bobs in the middle of their food!

The whole process can take a bit of time, but the good thing about it, is you can stop at any stage, put them in the fridge and then take over again when you need to.

I've used shark fillets, as the meat is nice and chunky and barely has any bones so you never have to worry about that accidental bone.

Here goes!

Shark Cutlets

Ingredients:
1 kg shark fillet pieces
1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
salt to taste
1 1/2 cup of water

Onion masala:
1 large onion chopped fine
3 green chillies chopped fine (I used the milder light green variety)
2 tsps ginger garlic paste
salt to taste
1 1/2 tsp coriander powder
1 1/2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder

Handful of finely chopped coriander leaves
4 tbsps. of Maggi's hot and sweet ketchup (optional)
2 eggs
breadcrumbs

Method:
In a casserole dish, add the washed shark fillet pieces along with the water, salt and turmeric powder. The water level should be enough to surround each piece of fish. Bring it to a boil, and then check the fish. You may need to turn some of the pieces around so they get immersed in the water, and cook. Once the fish looks tender, which should take around 5 minutes, remove the fish pieces in a plate. Reserve the water, you may need it later.

In a small pan, fry your onions, green chillies, ginger garlic paste and spice powders till the spice powders and onions are cooked. Do this on a low to medium heat so as not to burn the mixture. Put the heat off and reserve.

Using a fork, mash up roughly the cooked fish pieces. Add in the cooked and cooled onion spice mixture and the chopped coriander leaves.

Add in the hot and sweet sauce. This step is optional, but I do find it gives it a lovely burst of flavour. If you can't find it, you can replace it with a sweet chilly sauce.

Don't forget to taste it now. Remember, all the ingredients are cooked so there's no worry there. Adjust your salt or anything else you may want to add.

Form them into patties. The traditional method of making these patties is a long oval shape, to indicate they are fish and not beef. Check and see how the patties come together. If you find the mixture too dry, add a tablespoon of the reserved fish water from before to help give it that moisture and bind it.  Once you have formed the patties, you can store them in the fridge for about 15 minutes so they firm up and are easier to coat. You will have less chances of breakage if you do this step.

Make sure you have the next two steps ready. Beat an egg in a shallow bowl, wide enough to dip the entire patty. Always always season your egg with a little salt and pepper. Every little bit of seasoning helps in the final taste. Keep another plate with breadcrumbs ready.

Remove the patties from the fridge, coat them first in the egg, then the breadcrumbs, adjusting the shape as you go along. My advice would be, to coat all of them and reserve. Don't try to coat and fry them at the same time. You can easily burn your cutlets this way. Coat them all, then you can use your full attention for the frying stage.

Once coated and crumbed, you can again reserve them in the fridge, if you would like to fry them fresh, say, for guests in the evening. Or you can fry them straight away.

Heat the oil in a pan. Add the coated fish cutlets. As you add them to the pan, you can again check for that final shape. My mom's weapon of choice (as I like to call it) is a spatula and a fork, to help flip the patties in the gentlest way possible.

Here, next is my most crucial tip when making patties. If your ingredients are cooked, you must fry your patties on a fairly high heat. Doing so on a low heat can cause them to break.  If you make patties where the meat is raw, then the fire needs to be lower, so that the meat can have time to cook!

Stay right near the fire, turning the patties as gently as you can, ever so often, so that they get a nice golden colour. Remove and set aside on a plate. Store in the fridge once cooled. These can easily stay for a week in the fridge, if you can stop everyone from digging in quietly.

Do remember, any time you open the container, to wipe off any moisture you see collected on the lid or sides, as these will soften the cutlets and make them wet.

Enjoy!

Prawn Pickle

Prawn Balchao is the ultimate Goan Pickle! A must have in every Goan house, this delicacy is nothing short of finger licking good!

Goan Dried Prawn Balchao Pickle

Prawn balchao, being spicy, goes extremely well with a simple fish curry and rice or a dal and rice, but tastes just as good spread on top of a buttered toast!

For the best flavour, and believe me, this is hard to do, you need to let it sit for a couple of weeks to marinate and let the flavours bloom.

I've used a mix of dried and fresh prawns here, so there is a nice combination of textures and flavours.

This recipe makes for 2 large bottles and 2 jam bottles worth of balchao!

Dried prawn balchao pickle

Ingredients:

1kg fresh prawns, deveined

100gms dried prawns

4  tsps of salt

1 tsp of turmeric powder

1 tsp of kashmiri chilli powder

1 bottle (750ml) of palm vinegar

1 2' piece of cinnamon

1 tsp of cloves

1 tsp of cumin seeds

25 whole dried kashmiri chillies

6 tsps of kashmiri chilli powder

1 tsp of peppercorns

100gms of ginger

25 cloves of garlic

3 large onions

135gms of tomato paste

2 tsp of sugar

3/4 cup of oil

Method:

Soaked Dried Prawns

Wash the dried prawns to remove any sand or dirt impurities then soak in a 1 1/2 cup of vinegar overnight.

Marinated Fresh Prawns

The next morning, wash and devein the fresh prawns. Marinate with 4 tsps of salt and 1 tsp of turmeric powder and 1 tsp of chilli powder and reserve for an hour. After an hour, finely mince the prawns. I just used a really sharp knife to do this.

Minced Fresh Prawns

Add the dried prawns that have been soaking in vinegar in the mixer. There should be almost no vinegar left, as it will be absorbed almost completely by the prawns. Remove the prawns carefully, and add to the mixer. Then add the remaining vinegar, leaving back the last teaspoon or so to discard. That way, any impurities or sand or dirt that was still around, should have settled to the bottom and can be discarded.

Dried Prawns in the Mixer

Once you've added the dried prawns to the mixer, blitz it for a few seconds, till the mixture is ground but still coarse. I like to leave a little texture in my balchao. Remove and reserve.

To make the spice paste:

Peel the ginger and garlic and blend in the mixer, adding a little vinegar from the bottle if you need to losen it up. Remove and reserve.

Roasted Dry Red Chillies

Dry roast the 25 kashmiri chillies in a pan till they warm up and you can smell the aroma. Put the heat off and let it cool, then grind it in the mixer, along with the 1 tsp of cumin seeds, 1 (2" piece) of a cinnamon stick, 6 tsps of kashmiri chilli powder and 1 tsp of cloves, to a fine powder. Add in the rest of the vinegar from the bottle and the ginger garlic paste you made earlier, to get a nice smooth paste.

Chopped Onions in the Mixer

Peel 3 onions, roughly chop and add to the mixer. Give it a quick blitz, to get it chopped but not pasty in consistency. (you could also chop it finely by hand - this just saved me on some extra work by putting it in the mixer). Remove.

Fried Onions

In a deep pan, which you plan to make the balchao in, heat 1/4 cup of oil. Fry the onion mixture till its nice and golden. Add the tomato paste and cook nicely on a low to medium heat, taking care not to let it burn. Add the spice paste mixture and the rest of the oil (1/2 cup of oil) and let it cook for a further 10 mins. 

Once done, add 2 tsp of sugar to balance out the flavours. 

Balchao Paste

Add the dried prawns and the fresh prawns and cook on low for half and hour or so till the mixture has dried nicely and you can see the oil starting to separate. 

Cool and bottle in a glass bottle. I got 2 large bottles and 2 jam bottles completely full!

Dried Prawn Pickle

You can leave the bottles out for a day before putting it in the fridge if the weather is not too hot. Reserve for at least 2 weeks before eating.. This last line is probably the hardest part of the recipe! 

Fish in a Coconut Curry

Fish in a coconut curry

This is my short cut easy version of the famous Goan Caldin Fish Curry. It's a very versatile curry that can be adapted to make it a vegetable, chicken or an egg curry. 

No grinding involved here. The process is simple and quick to make in a hurry. Goes extremely well with kids who love its mild flavour. You can always bump up the spice by adding more green chillies or more chilli powder. But I love this mild curry for its simplicity.

Fish in a coconut curry

Ingredients:
3 large pieces ( 1kg) of boneless fish fillets cut into cubes

Marinade for the fish:
1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
1/4 tsp of kashmiri chilli powder
salt to taste

Ingredients for the curry:
2 small onions chopped fine
1 tomato chopped fine
1 tbsp of ginger garlic paste
2  whole green chillies slit
salt to taste
1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
1 1/4 tsp of coriander powder
1 tsp of cumin powder
1/2 tsp of curry powder (not traditional but helps give this curry an extra boost of flavour)
1/4 tsp of kashmiri chilli powder (kashmiri chilli powder is known more for its colour and is not as spicy as regular chilli powder)
4-5 pieces of kokum (dried berry fruit - you can use tamarind as a substitute)
10 tbsps of coconut powder (reconstituted into milk by adding 1 cup of room temperature water)

Method:
 Cut the fish into medium sized cubes. Season with salt and an additional 1/4 tsp each of turmeric powder and chilly powder. Reserve while you work on your curry.

In a casserole, heat oil. Use coconut oil for maxium flavour. Add your chopped onions and kokum. Add the whole slit green chillies and all the spice powders.. ie. turmeric, coriander, cumin, curry and kashmiri chilli powder. Fry on a gentle heat so as not to burn the spices. Add a dash of water if you feel its getting too dry. 

Once nicely sauteed, add your reconstitued coconut milk. Season with salt. Remember to add a little less salt than usual as you have already added salt to the fish when marinating. Let the mixture simmer on a low heat. Boiling the coconut milk can cause it to split. In about 10 mins the curry shoul d be cooked. 

Drop the fish cubes inside. Fish in curries should never be kept for longer than 7 mins to keep its texture. Time your fish. Once the 7 mins are over, check again for seasoning and serve hot with steaming white rice. 

Tip: There are a lot of varieties you can experiment with for souring this dish. I've used kokum, but you can also use green mango or tamarind paste or extract. 

Tip: This dish is typically made with the Indian silver pomfret which brings out the best flavour of this dish.

Fish in a coconut curry

Mom's Goan Prawn Chilly Fry

This was how my Mum used to have it made, back in the day, during the village times in Goa. It was a fond memory that I was hoping to recreate and preserve.

Food at its simplest and all about the flavour. There's no other way to describe this beauty of a dish!

Mom's Goan Prawn Chilly Fry

Ingredients:
Prawns, deveined
8-10 whole dry kashmiri chillies
8 piece of kokum
3 onions

Method:
Cut the onions, first in half then each half into another half. Then slice finely. Wash and devein the prawns and salt and set aside.

Heat oil in a wok. Add the kashmiri chillies and the onions. Add in the kokum too. Give it a quick stir fry.

Keeping the heat high, add in the prawns. Toss to coat the prawns with the onions till they turn a nice pink. Once cooked turn off the heat and serve. 

Quick Sardine Starter Salad

A super quick starter. All you need is a tin of sardines which is usually sitting in your pantry cupboard. If you need to rustle up something quick when unexpected guests show up, this is the perfect and easiest starter to make. You can have this as a salad as well, or just serve it with some toasted baguettes or crackers. 

Quick sardine starter salad

Ingredients:

1 tin of sardines

1 onion finely chopped

1 green chilly finely chopped

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 a lemon

fresh coriander leaves to garnish

Method:
Break up the sardines with a fork. Add in the rest of the ingredients, checking for seasoning. Serve up!

Mirin Glazed Salmon

A quick easy recipe from Nigella Lawson that's a sure winner.. If  you would like a bit of heat in this dish, you could serve it with some thinly sliced fresh red chillies or you could add a bit of your favourite chilli sauce or tabasco(if you prefer) in the marinade. Those sweet red chilli dipping sauces you get in the market might go nicely in the marinade.

Mirin Glazed Salmon

Ingredients:
Salmon fillets
2 tsps. brown sugar
3 tbsps. mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine)
3 tbsps. soy sauce
2 tsps. Japanese rice wine vinegar

Method:
Mix together the brown sugar, mirin and soy sauce in a bowl. In another plate, season the salmon with salt and pepper. Pan fry the salmon in oil on a low to medium heat. Flip over and add the marinade. Remember to keep the heat low to get that nice caramelisation. Too high and it will just burn..Once cooked, remove and set aside on a plate. Add the rice wine vinegar to the pan to deglaze any leftover pan juices and finally drizzle over the cooked fish.

A quick tip when frying fish. Don't use a very high heat as you don't want it to burn especially if it is a thicker piece otherwise the middle bits will be raw. 

Another tip is not to be tempted to turn the fish too quickly else it will break or stick. Always fry it skin side down first then flip. Always always season fish with salt and keep while you prepare the rest of your ingredients. This gives the fish time to absorb some of that salt. This goes for prawns too.. If you are making a curry, make sure you season your fish with salt, before you add it to your curry. Sometimes you taste a fish curry and wonder whats missing in the dish. It could be because the person has added the salt to the curry rather than the fish/prawns. Remember then, to add very little salt when making the curry or wait till you add the fish and taste it, if it requires more salt.

 Another quick tip with fish curries is once you've added the fish/prawns to time it for exactly 7 minutes... no more.. for the perfect texture

Quick Butterfly Prawns On A Bed Of Rocket Leaves

Prawns and rocket are a match made in heaven. I've tried lots of combinations of spices for pan fried prawns and I've found the Indian method of using turmeric and chilly powder to be the best.

Quick Butterfly Prawns on a Bed of Rocket Leaves

Ingredients:
Jumbo prawns deveined and butterflied in its shell
turmeric powder
chilly powder
salt to taste
store bought garlic butter (lurpak)
lemon wedges for garnishing

Method:
Marinate the prawns with salt, turmeric and chilly powder. I haven't given quantities here so you can choose how spicy or how yellow you wish the dish to turn out. For any new cooks out there, I would use not more than a half a teaspoon of each depending on the quantity of prawns.

Heat a little oil in a pan. Then add the garlic butter. Lurpak makes garlic butter sticks that I always buy and keep in my freezer. Adding the oil to the butter prevents the butter from burning. Fry the prawns till they become opaque, indicating they are cooked.

Wash the rocket leaves and assemble on a plate. Place the cooked prawns on top and garnish with a lemon wedge.

Prawn Laksa

This is a very fast dish to make last minute for dinner. Its almost the same as making your regular thai curry with a few twists here and there. 

It is basically a soup, but a very wholesome and filling one. You can always substitute ingredients to suit your needs or just use what you have in your pantry. I've used frozen prawns in this recipe and instead of thai red curry paste I used thai sour curry paste. It is available in the same little plastic box as the regular ones. You can also use Tom Yum paste instead. Kaffir lime leaves can be bought and stored in a Ziploc bag in the freezer for ages. I haven't added any thai red chillies to this dish as I thought the thai paste had enough heat in it.

Prawn Laksa

Ingredients:
fresh ginger, sliced
bamboo shoots canned
1 red capsicum sliced
few sticks of lemon grass
a few (4-5) kaffir lime leaves
1/4 - 1/2 tsp of fish sauce
1 fish or prawn stock cube or  1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp of jaggery or brown sugar
a few fresh prawns deveined (or frozen)
1 tsp of thai red curry paste
1/2 lemon
7-8 tbsps. of coconut milk powder
fresh basil leaves, washed
1/4 packet of thai rice vermicelli
Spring onions chopped fine for garnishing
Coriander leaves chopped fine for garnishing

Method:
Soak the vermicelli in hot water with a teaspoon of salt for about 15 mins.

Heat oil in a casserole. Bruise the lemon grass sticks with a mallot. Then add them to the oil and fry for a little bit. I find that frying the lemon grass sticks releases all their flavor. Add in the ginger and sauté. Then add in the curry paste. Give it a good stir. Now add the cube or just plain salt. Add the jaggery , fish sauce, and squeeze the juice from 1/2 a lemon.

Prepare the coconut milk by dissolving it 1 cup of water. Add more powder to water, if you would like more gravy. It needs to be soupy. Add the coconut milk to the dish on a medium heat and let it cook for 10 mins. Now add in the prawns.

Always cook any fish in a curry for not more than 7 mins or it will be overdone. Once prawns turn opaque in colour they are cooked.

After 7 mins, add in the red capsicum slices, bamboo shoots and kaffir lime leaves. Always add kaffir lime leaves at the end or they make the dish bitter. Drain the rice vermicelli and add to the casserole.

Throw in a handful of torn basil leaves.

Serve hot in bowls and garnish with spring onions and freshly chopped coriander leaves.